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ILLUSTRATED WITH 



THIRTY-FIVE LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES, 



ipi^oi^ oi^^ioinsTj^Hi iDESia-3^s. 



BY 



'Hudson Wolly, 

Author of ^'•Holly's Country Seats,^'' etc. 



J 




HARTFORD, CONN.: M. H. MALLORY AND COMPANY. 

1871. 



.*^ 

^^N^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 

M. H. MALLORY & CO., 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



f 



^^^ 



S.^ 



aEO(BG-E EQJyfUJTQ ST(BEET, ESQ., A.(B.A., F.(B.I.(B.A., 

THESE PAGES ARE INSCRIBED 



PREFACE. 



In offering to the public a work ou Churcli Arcliitecture, we feel some delicacy 
ill laying down any j^ositive rules on tlie subject, as the views of individual parishes 
vaiy so greatly. We have in all cases based our opinions on the laws of ecclesiology, 
although vnth many this may be open to the objection of apparently laying too 
much stress on outside appearances. In execution, however, the designs may be 
either modified or elaborated to suit various tastes, which it does not form part 
of the architect's duty to question. 

It may be thought singular that we have given no estimates in this work, but 
as the prices of labor and material have been so fluctuating, we deem it more 
satisfactory to make these at the time of building. A previous work on country 
houses, published by us in 1861, gave estimates according to the prices ruling at the 
time, which afterward advanced, during some six or eight years, at the rate of ten 
to twenty jjer cent, per annum. 

We have been much indebted to the able assistance of Me. Alfred SarOxENt, and 
Thomas H. McAvoy, in rendering the drawings. The title-page was composed by 
Mr. E. J. Neville Stent — an artist whose designs for interior color decoration are 
unrivalled in this country. 



LIST OF 


PLATES. 


/ Plate I. 


J,, Plate XI. — Roofs. — Gontinned. 


Fig. 1. Italian Gothic window. 


Fig. 3. Roof without tie-beam. 


Fig. 2. English Gothic window. 


Fig. 4. Short longitudinal ridge truss. 




Fig. 5. Long longitudinal ridge truss. 


/ Plate II. Design I. 




Ground plan of small church, to seat 


,. Plate XII.— Roof of Westminster Hall. 


300. 






I Plate XIII. Design VI, 


k' Plate III. Design I. 


Ground plan of church, with Sunday 


Perspective view. 


School in transept. 


; Plate IV. Design II. 


V Plate XIV. Design VI. 


Fig. 1. Ground plan, Brady's Bend 


Elevation. 


Church, Pa. 




Fig. 2. Enlargement of same. 


Plate XV.— Choirs. 




Fig. 1. The Deformation. 


^ Plate V. Design II. 


Fig. 2. The Reformation. 


Fig. 1. Perspective view, Brady's Bend 




Church. 


•^Plate XVI. Design VII. 


Fig. 2. Enlargement of same. 


Ground plan of church, to seat 600. 


^ Plate VI. Design III. 


V Plate XVII. Design VII. 


Ground plan, small wooden church, to 


Perspective view. 


seat 450. 






i. Plate XVIII.— Pews. 


^ Plate VII. Design III. 


Fig. 1. Deformation. 


Perspective view. 


Fig. 2. Reformation. 


^ Plate VIII. Design IV. 


^' Plate XIX. Design VIII. 


Interior of library. 


Ground plan of church, with Sunday 




School in basement. 


^ Plate IX. Design V. 




Ground plan, Wilton Church, Conn. 


Plate XX. Design VIII. 




Perspective view. 


i/Plate X. Design V. 




Perspective view. 


■ Plate XXI. Design IX. 




Ground plan of church, to seat 1,000. 


^/ Plate XI.— Roofs. 




Fig. 1. Roof 30 ft. span. 


» Plate XXII. Design IX. 


Fig. 2. Roof 50 ft. span. 


Perspective view. 


1 



LIST OF PLATES. 



*-' Plate XXIII. 

Interior of churcli, to seat 1,000. 


Design X. 


. Plate XXX. 

Ground plan, Presbyterian Church, Dar- 


Design XV. 


Plate XXIV. 


Design XI. 


ien, Conn. 




Emblems. 




. Plate XXXI. 


Design XV. 


Plate XXV. 


Design XII. 


Perspective view. 




Ground plan of church, to seat 700. 

Plate XXVI. 

Perspective view. 

Plate XXVII. 

- 

Ground plan of church, to seat between 


Design XII. 
Design XIII. 


Plate XXXII. 

Ground plan. Eye Presbyterian Church. 

Plate XXXIII. 

Perspective view. 


Design XVI. 
Design XVI. 


700 and 800. 
Plate XXVIII. 

Perspective view. 


Design XIII. 


Plate XXXIV. 

Ground plan. Congregational Church, 
showing alteration. 


Design XVII. 


Plate XXIX. 


Design XIV. 


Plate XXXV. 


Design XVIL 


Gas fixtures. 




Perspective view. 


• 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Clioice of style in architecture. — Objections to the purely 
English type. — Examples of plate and line tracery. — True 
origin of tracery explained — how degenerated into perpen- 
dicular. — Objections to modem Gothic — too miich finish a 
fault. — Italian Gothic ; in what respects suited to our use — 
wherein to be avoided. — Reasons for avoiding numerous but- 
tresses. — Value of constructive coloring. — Arguments in favor 
of apsidal chancels. — America peculiarly entitled to choose 
from all nations. — Importance of fonning a national style. — 
Reasons for preferring Gothic to classic architecture. 



CHAPTER II. 

Difference between modern and ancient workmen — the 
probable cause explained. — Account of the freemasons. — St. 
Dunstan, archbishop and blacksmith. — Necessity for educat- 
ing the workman. — Plan for art institute — classes likely to 
be benefited. — Artistic iron-work — how produced — mistaken 
ideas in regard to. — Iron buildings — objections to them, 
and arguments in their favor. — Plan for art school, by the 
American Institute of Architects. — Reasons for cooperation 
of the wealthy, and benefits resulting to them from such a 
school. 



CHAPTER III. 

Necessity for good ventilation — difficulty of obtaining it 
by ordinary means. — Influence of bad air on health. — Effects 
of carbonic acid gas. — Remedies for bad air. — Plans of Mr. 
L. W. Leeds. — Ventilation of floor and upper portion of 
room both necessary. — Working of ventilating shaft on pres- 
ent plans. — Necessity of warming the walls of a building. — 
Proper method of regulating church furnaces. — Proper de- 
gree of temperature for health. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Construction of classic temples incorrect, and why. — True 
principle of stone the Gothic arch. — Failure of attempts to 
reconcile the two by modern architects. — Examples of false 
construction cited. — Suspended arches and pillars. — Panel- 
ling in stone. — Reasons for wood panelling explained. — 
Proper construction of wood-work, and substitute for columns 
and arches given. — Concealment of construction in renais- 
sance architecture versus construction made ornamental in ' 
Gothic. — Adaptability of Gothic. — Absence of regularity a dis- 
tinguishing feature. — Error of using ornament without act- 
ual reason for its employment. — Inside buttresses and drip- 
mouldings an example. — Ruskin on appropriate ornament. — 
Application of emblems without meaning. — Shams in archi- 
tecture — their absurdity, and failure to deceive. — Instances : 
sham gables — sanding and blocking of brick and plaster 
— imitation of groined ceilings — painting in relief — false clock 
faces. — Description of church combining a number of falsi- 
ties. — Reasons for avoiding shams. — Difficulties of architects 
\vith committees. — Case of Mr. Blomfield — his letter. — Future 
prospects of art considered. — Street on purity and truth in 
construction. 

CHAPTER V. 

Wooden churches ; where they should be built. — Folly 
of erecting expensive churches without means to finish them 
truthfully. — What a new or struggling parish may do to ob- 
tain a church. — Advantages of a wooden building for alter- 
ing, and mode of enlargement. — Durability of timber. — How 
a poor parish may obtain Communion plate, and merit in 
doing so.— Instance of self-sacrifice for the Church. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Importance of a good site for a church, and circumstances 



Xll 



CONTENTS. 



wliicli should iuliueuce the choice of same in the city. — Mean- 
ness and self-interest often shown in the present day, in do- 
nating lands for church building, contrasted with mediaeval 
practice and the example of King David. — Style of church 
adapted to various situations. — Proi^riety of allowing ample 
grounds around the church. — Appropriate walls and gates. — 
Cultivation of ivy — what kinds to plant. — The graveyard ; 
where located. — Objections to the modern style of epitaph 
and tombstones. — The ancient style described. — Some appro- 
priate inscriptions. — Increased pleasure to be derived from 
future recollections of a correct and beautiful church. — The 
parsonage — its style and material — qualities to be expressed 
in its construction, and mode of showing these. — The pastor's 
study — how it should be arranged, and why. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Mistaken ideas of an architect's duties and range of ac- 
quirements. — Constructive ability particularly shown in the 
groined and timbered Gothic roofs. — Changes and improve- 
ments gradually wrovight in these from twelfth to fifteenth 
century. — Two varieties of roofs, the high and low pitch, 
described. — Names and application of the various timbers. 
— Truss for thirty feet span — fifty feet — sixty to eighty feet, 
with table of scantlings. — Instance of roof two hundred and 
thirty-five feet span— failure of this, and why. — Proper truss 
for very great spans. — Description of St. Pancras railway 
station, London. — Mode of trussing to avoid the use of but- 
tresses. — Construction of several famous ^oofs described. — 
Nursted Court. — Hampton Court. — Eltham Palace. — Westmins- 
ter Hall. — Mote House, Ightham. — Fallacy of the term tie- 
beam in Gothic, and gradual abandonment of its use. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Propriety of the organ for sacred music. — ^Reputed origin 
and great antiquity of the instrument, and first occasions of 
its use in churches. — Winchester Cathedral organ described. 
— Earliest form of the instrument, and method of supplying 
wind. — Invention of the key-board. — Additions and improve- 
ments to end of seventeenth century. — Curious ideas of orna- 
ment for organ cases. — Destruction of organs in England by 
the Puritans, described by writers of the period. — Reintro- 
duction of the instrument noticed by Samuel Pepys. — Mod- 
ern organs — description of the largest.— St. George's Hall 
organ. — Boston organ. — DiflRculty of performing on the in- 
strument.— Objections to the quartette choir, and its origin. 
— Superior beauty and fitness of a proper choir and genuine 



Church music. — Organ chambers — their defects, and how 
these are to be obviated— proper method of constructing 
them. — Best form of organ case. — Way to secure a good and 
reliable instrument. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Appropriate Church fittings a matter of importance. — 
Description of them and their uses.- — The altar — the reredos 
— the super-altar and appointments — the lectern and litany- 
desk ; their proper forms and places — the credence — piscina 
— aumbry — sedilia ; their various forms — impropriety of so- 
called bishops' chairs — choir stalls — proper lights — objections 
to gas for the chancel — the rood-screen ; its form and use — 
modern substitute for the screen — the font ; its size and 
proper position — font covers ; why indispensable — the pulpit ; 
its early form and subsequent alterations — proper position of 
pulpit with reference to acoustics and symbolism — necessity 
for sounding-boards — Mr. Blomfield's arguments in their favor 
— advantages of the Gothic roof over a flat ceiling for hear- 
ing — Sir Christopher Wren's rule for size of auditorium — 
method of overcoming echoes. — Galleries — reasons for their 
omission. — Pews — objections to the pew system as against 
free sittings — description of ancient pews. — Increase instead 
of decrease of income the result of free sittings. — Instance 
of this — letter of parishioners of St. George's, Hanover square, 
to the wardens. — Increased charities of a free church. 



CHAPTER X. 

Value of color in architecture — its uniform recognition 
by the ancients. — Incompleteness of a building without color 
decoration. — Ways in which this may be carried out. — Decora- 
tion of plaster walls — of windows. — Conventional treatment 
correct and pleasing, but painting in relief an error, and why. 
— Instances of good coloring for a simple church, and one more 
elaborate. — Legendary decoration, with examples. — Mosaic and 
sgraffito. — Decoration of chancel arch. — The vesica piscis ; its 
meaning and use. — Stained glass, ancient and modern. — Su- 
j)eriority of the former, and reasons for this. — Enamel paint- 
ing a mistake, and why. — Rules for the production of good 
stained glass. — Remarks of an English writer on the subject. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Christian emblems ; their significance and importance. — 
Various emblems explained — the Cross, its various forms and 
uses — emblems of the Holy Trinity — of our Lord. — Monograms 



CONTENTS. 



Xlll 



of Jesus. — Emblems of the Holy Ghost — of the Passion, 
Crucifixion, unci Resurrection — of l)apti;?m — of the four Evan- 
gelists, and reasons for their distribution. — Emblems of the 
Apostles. — Canonical colors ; their symbolic meaning and use 
described. — Precious stones adopted by tlie Cluucli — verses 
descriptive of same. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Mistaken views with regard to the revival of Christian 
art and Church ceremonies. — History of the conversion of 
Britain. — The Book of Common Prayer — its origin — first trans- 
lation — how different from the present book — revision of 1553 
— of Elizabeth — of Charles II. (1663). — Reasons for abandon- 
ment of primitive rites. — State of the Church under Charles 
and the Georges. — John Wesley — reasons for his leaving 
the Church. — Present comparatively feeble state of the 
Church — reasons for this. — Superior success of dissenters ex- 
plained. — Field for the employment of clergymen without 
parishes. — Superior zeal of the colonial clergy. — Mr. Ruskin 
in support of ecclesiastical art. — Proper ornaments and vest- 
ments of the altar — the antependium and superfrontal — the 
fair linen cloth — improper modern use of the latter. — Objec- 
tions to use of the crucifix. — Story of the Rood of Boxley. — 
Mistaken application of the term Catholic — to whom it prop- 
erly belongs. — A late bishop of New York on Protestantism.— 
Protestant Churchman on Ritualism. — Claims of the English 
Catholics — how sustained. — The Greek Cliurch — its ceremonies 
— affinity to the Cliurch of England — in what it is superior — 
(quotation from an English writer on this subject — reasons for 
desiring union vrith the Eastern Church. — Dr. Littledale on 
Puritanism. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Spires ; their significance and importance. — Reasons for 
avoiding two spires of equal importance. — Impropriety of 
towers with pinnacles and the spire omitted, in an artistic 
and symbolic point of view. — Heights of famous spires — St. 



Michael's, Coventry — Chester Cathedral — Lichfield — Canter- 
bury — Strasburg Minster — Notre Dame, Antwerp — Trinity 
Church, New York. — The weather-cock — its symbolism ex- 
l)lained by Bishop Duraudus. — Proportions of spires. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Clocks ; their probable antiquity. — Defective mechanism 
of early clocks, and its improvement. — Objections to the pres- 
ent style of church clocks — their shape and color unjileasant, 
and why — ways in which an improvement might be effected. 
— Faulty construction of clock towers as usually seen. — Proper 
size for dial. — Arrangement of the weights, and precautions 
to be observed regarding them. — General rules for size of 
clock chamber — its enclosure and ventilation — arguments in 
favor of wooden and iron beams, and proper employment of 
same. — The dial — it should be concave, not convex, and why. 
— Material and ornaments of dial. — Illuminated clocks — why 
objectionable — new method of illuminating dials suggested. — 
Protection of the works from gas-lights. — Usefulness of a 
balcony outside of tower. — Bells for clocks. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Church bells ; their origin and first use. — DifTerence be- 
tween chimes and peals. — Names of bells in ancient times — 
superstitions in regard to them — various modes of ringing. — 
Description of remarkable bells — bell metal — method of cast- 
ing. — Arrangement of belfry. — Verses. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Advance of art among sectarians. — Differences of feeling 
between the present day and former times. — Hatred of the 
Church in colonial days. — Witchcraft in New England. — Sir 
Edmund Andros — his reputation for tyranny, and its causes. — 
The Puritans in England — description of them by Lord Ma- 
cauley. 



CHITRCH ARCHITECTURE 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION 



In a new countrj^ like ours, wliere no 
precedent for architecture is afforded, we, 
like other nations in their early art-efforts, 
are compelled to fall back on older peo- 
ples for examples in style. Rome's pro- 
tot}^e was the Greek, and Byzantium 
received the Roman arch and idealized it 
into a Christian emblem. The pointed 
arch next sprang from this, in which we 
have all the beautiful varieties of Gothic. 
What, then, should be the prototype of 
our American architecture ? 

The English styles have heretofore been 
generally received, as our ancestors were 
mostly fi'om British soil ; and English 
churches, adapted for wants and climate dif- 
fering essentially from our own, have been 
copied literally. For example, in the vio- 
lent storms of our severe winters, the deej^ 



valleys of the picturesque English roofs be- 
come receptacles for drift and snow ; not 
only creating a weight sufficient to strain 
the building, but almost certain to produce 
leaks. Again, the gloomy skies of England 
necessitate much larger windows than our 
own clear atmosphere and bright sunlight 
demand. In this respect our requirements 
come nearer those of sunny Italy ; where 
the window openings, often as large as in 
the English examples, have the pointed 
arch more obscured by what is termed 
plate tracery (see fig. 1), in which the 
space between the subordinate arches is 
simply perforated with geometrical figures. 
The English design has the intermediate 
space cut away, showing its tracery in sim- 
ple lines (see fig. 2). We may remark, 
however, that the earliest and best Eng- 



16 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE, 



lisli windows partook more of tlie form 
of plate tracery, and the only excuse for 
the change mnst have been the admission 
of mo]'e light. 

Line tracery was supposed to have orig- 
inated from its resemblance to the inter- 
twining of vines over the opening ; which 
theory is as fallacious as that of the Gothic 
nave having been copied from the inter- 
secting lines of an arching avenue of elms. 
A slight study into the derivation of this 
tracery will show how the forms of fig. 2 
simply resulted from fining away the stone 
of number 1. This, in oui* opinion, was 
one of the first steps toward decline ; for 
not long after line tracery gained favor in 
England, it degenerated into what is er- 
roneously termed the Perpendicular ; for 
now, instead of the arch remaining pointed, 
it suddenly became depressed ; and, instead 
of the lines of tracery being vertical, em- 
phasis was given to the lines horizontal ; 
in fact, the whole tracery bore a strong 
resemblance to an iron grating ; losing en- 
tirely the primitive and beautiful charac- 
teristic of dividing columns with cajDital 
and base, surmounted by arches, their tym- 
panums pierced with a simple quatre-foil, 
like a star of light. 



In correct Gothic, as a rule, shafts with- 
out capitals are unconstructional ; and, the 
moment tracery is found minus this dis- 
tinguishing feature, and with its lines con- 
tinued unobstructed to the base of the 
opening, from that moment dates its de- 
cline. 

As we cannot entirely approve of the 
old Ensrlish models for imitation in this 
country, so we certainly object to the mod- 
ern English, or, as it is sometimes called, 
Victorian Gothic, such as practised by 
the late Sir Charles Barry. Unfortunately, 
much of this new work is characterized by 
a straining after effect — a startling, queer, 
bizarre combination of all sorts of odds 
and ends ; all the most extravagant points 
of the old work carefully introduced, but 
with its harmonious repose and broad sub- 
duing masses neglected. A Gothic build- 
ing should not be all quaint turret, tor- 
tuous sky-line, and grotesque gargoyle. 
Neither should its entire fagade be cov- 
ered with detail, however exquisite may 
be its design. The style of the palace of 
Westminster, and Eton Hall, — Barry's mas- 
ter efforts, — is not of a chaste and harmon- 
ious description. The multitude of details, 
the very walls covered with interminable 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



17 



paiiel-Avork and tracery of the rigid, cast- 
iron type, witli never a resting place for 
tlie weary eye, throw these works back to 
the worst and weakest period of Perpen- 
dicular — that decrepid Gothic just hasten- 
ing to its downfall. Such over-labored 
l)uildings remind us strongly of some clev- 
er, yet interminable, talker, whose conver- 
sation needs greatly the relief of a few 
" brilliant flashes of silence " to enable us 
to appreciate the rest. Fussy, unmeaning, 
over-loaded ornament is a Renaissance blun- 
der ; a dignified repose and breadth of 
effect should be leading characteristics of 
our model Gothic edifice. 

Another mistake in modern work is the 
anxiety to render all the parts too fine and 
finished. " How often do we see," says a 
A\Titer for the Ecclesiological Society, " a 
simple village church, consisting of low 
and rough stone walls, surmounted and 
almost overwhelmed by an immense roof, 
and pierced with some two or three plain 
windows on each side, having a short, mas- 
sive tower at one angle, or in some seem- 
ingly accidental position, which, neverthe- 
less, every one confesses to be as pictu- 
resque, beautiful, and church-like a build- 
ing as the most critical eye could wish to 



behold ; while a modern design, -svith all 
its would-be elegancies of trim, regular 
buttress, parapet and pinnacle, will cost 
twice as much, and not look like a church 
after all. Here, perhaps, one half the 
money is laid out, first in procuring, and 
then in smoothing and squaring great 
masses of stone, or in working some extrav- 
agant and incongruous ornament ; whereas 
the small and rude hammer-dressed ashlar 
or rubble-work of the ancient model has a 
far better appearance, and allows a larger 
expenditure where it is most wanted^ — in 
the decoration of the interior." 

A Avail constructed of these small stones 
will look far more natural, and therefore far 
better, than when laid in large, regular 
blocks. Besides, the latter render less 
prominent the outlines and decorations of 
the windows, etc., so that our fine carving 
does not in reality produce so great an effect 
as it should. Contrast, the play of light 
and shade, and richness and variety of color 
in the material, are of far more consequence, 
and add more to the effect of a building, 
than labor thrown away in smoothing and 
squaring great masses of granite or other 
hard stone, a mode of treatment only suited 
to marble. The only large stones used by 



18 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



the medigeval builders were tlie long ones 
employed at intervals to bond tbe work to- 
gether, and those at the angles, which had 
coins of more regular workmanship. Even 
the finished stones of the apertures should 
not all be of the same length or height, 
not only because they would thus help to 
divert the eye from the decorated portions, 
but because irregular jamb-stones form a 
more efficient bond Avith the main wall. 
Again, the modern practice of not only 
discarding small stones almost entirely, but 
rubbing and polishing the blocks to a j)er- 
fect equality of surface, is destructive of 
much fine effect. First, every single stone 
is chiseled and filed as it lies on the 
ground, and then, after the building is 
completed, beginning from the top as the 
scaftbldino; is removed, the workman is fain 
to shave down the face of his work as clean 
and smooth as the top of a table. A con- 
tractor once remarked, with profound con- 
tempt, that those " old fellows left their ma- 
sonry disgracefully rough, and mouldings 
untrue, and joints so uneven, that you can 
see the face of every stone is in a difl:erent 
plane, while they could seldom manage 
to make two opposite walls of the same 
length." Mr. Ruskin, with rather a differ- 



ent object, had remarked the same of the 
" old fellows " before. 

But the man of taste and apj)reciation 
will not fail to remark that an essential 
characteristic of all Gothic work, whether in 
stone, wood, or glass, is that peculiar ine- 
quality of surface which arises from a slight 
difference in the reflection from, or refraction 
through, the j^ieces wliich compose the sur- 
face. No two stones laid together will ever 
have their faces so exactly in the same plane 
as to reflect the light at exactly the same 
angle, unless extraordinary care has been 
taken to spoil the work by an over effort in 
this particular, No boards and beams in 
the old work were planed quite smooth, but 
every cut of the chisel or axe with which 
they were dressed reflects in a different di- 
rection. And, in like manner, no piece of 
old window-glass was so uniform in thick- 
ness and texture throughout as not to re- 
fract the light unequally, and so produce 
what is called the gem-like and streaky 
appearance, which modern glass makers 
have long tried to imitate by various kinds 
of artificial streaking and specking. 

In this country a strong movement is 
going on in favor of Italian Gothic ; and 
there are many arguments for the adoj^tion 



of this beautiful style, whose best features 
are peculiarly suited to our uses. We have 
already iustauced the Italian wiudoAvs, with 
their plate tracery — Ave may also notice Ital- 
ian niouldino;s as suited to our brilliant at- 
mosj^here. These are of a flattei', equally 
graceful, and, we think, far more refined 
character than the English, Avliich are usu- 
ally of the deep undercut tyj^e, necessary 
in cloudy atmospheres to a due effect of 
light and shade ; while with us, as in Italy, 
the same efi:ect is produced by sharp lines 
of shadow. 

We must not, however, be limited in 
our choice to the Italian ; every country 
has its characteristic beauties from which 
we may cull. The flat Italian roofs, for 
examjjle, are far less picturesque than the 
broken sky-lines of northern work, and 
seem due to a lingering influence of the 
old classic examples which everywhere sur- 
rounded the Italian builders, and doubt- 
less had an efi^ect upon their Gothic con- 
ceptions. Indeed, so marked was this in- 
fluence that Gothic can never be said to 
have attained a true feeling in that coun- 
try. The deep cornices which surround 
their buildings, following up gables and 
breaking round buttresses, are evidently 



motives from the entablature of a classic 
temple. These are a very objectionable 
feature, and do as much as they well can 
toward destroying the effect of every front 
they surmount. 

Another and more commendable charac- 
teristic of Italian churches is the fi'equent 
absence of buttresses ; which, while de- 
tracting somewhat from the picturesque- 
ness of these noble edifices, certainly give 
a grandeur and breadth of efifect well 
worthy our imitation. Buttresses arose in 
northern Europe as a means of overcom- 
ing the lateral thrust resulting from the 
pressure of groined and vaulted ceilings. 
In design XII. we have introduced such a 
ceiling; but as the expense of this would 
be enormous if carried throughout the 
building, it is confined to the chancel — that 
being the part proj^er to be treated in the 
most sumptuous manner. Buttresses are 
accordingly added to the part treated ex- 
ternally as the chancel aisle, of sufiicient 
size to resist the thrust of the flying but- 
tresses, which, in turn, transmit the thrust 
of the stone vault to these massive outer 
walls. But as the remaining walls only 
suj)port an oj)en timber roof, framed in 
the manner described in our chapter on 



roofs, wliicli effectually does away mtli the 
necessity for buttresses, they are liere omit- 
ted. They are, it is true, necessary in some 
degree for a timber roof framed in the 
ordinary manner, but what we object to 
is the employment of these useful mem- 
bers simply for the sake of ornaments ; sug- 
gesting the barren invention of the archi- 
tect in filling blank spaces. 

The Italian method of internal buttress- 
ing is to be recommended in some cases 
for economy of space, none of which is 
lost on the inside, as these inner abutments 
may be arched over, obstructing but slight- 
ly the continuous passage of the aisles. 
The cJievet or apsidal recess is also a very 
pleasing instance of internal buttressing. 
- Another plan consists in forming alter- 
nate recessions of the wall, thus producing 
a sort of corrugation. The windows in 
this case occupy either the internal recess 
or projection; if the former, the square 
reveal is sj^layed or shafted, an arch or 
corbel table bringing out the wall just un- 
der the cornice. A similar or partial fiU- 
ing-up may also be resorted to under the 
sills if necessary. Externally, the recesses 
are treated in the same way. 

As a means of wall relief, the Italians 



introduced constructive shading in various- 
ly colored material, giving a polychromatic 
effect of great life and beauty. The daily- 
growing tendency with us toward color is 
greatly facilitated by the almost endless 
tints of many of our beautiful building 
materials, and is a striking evidence of in- 
creasing artistic taste in our people. In 
England this is rapidly superseding the 
gloomy monotone of their buildings, and 
illuminated tile in bands, and brilliant-col- 
ored polished marbles, are daily gladdening 
the lines of their fagades. Some of the re- 
marks of Mr. Street, the eminent English 
authority on modern Gothic in regard to 
this question of color may prove interest- 
ing : 

" Our buildings should, both outside and 
inside, have some of that warmth which 
color alone can give. They should enable 
the educated eye to revel in bright tints 
of Nature's own formation ; while to the 
uneducated they would afford the best of 
all possible lessons, and, by familiarizing it 
with, would enable it to appreciate, the 
proper combination of color and form. If 
the day ever comes when our buildings 
thus do their duty, we may hope to see a 
feeling more general and more natural for 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



21 



color of all kinds, and for art in every va- 
riety in the bulk of our people. The puri- 
tanical uniformity of our coats — indeed, of 
all our garments — is but a reflection from 
the prevailing lack of love for art or color 
of every kind. A rich color is thought 
vulgar, and that only is refined which is 
neutral, plain and ugly. Oh, for the days 
when as of yore color may be a]3preciated 
and beloved — when uniformity shall not 
be considered beauty, nor an ugly plain- 
ness the fit substitute for severity." 

Then, again, the chancel in England is 
almost universally square, while Italian 
chancels are invariably apsidal — the altar 
being brought out from the eastern wall, 
and placed in the centre or chord of the 
apse. 

This arrangement recommends itself not 
only for superior beauty of form and an- 
tiquity of usage, but also for many typical 
or symbolic reasons ; some of which are 
given below in the words of the Rev. J. 
H. Hopkins, the distinguished American 
ecclesioloo-ist : 

" Except Britain, all Christendom, from 
Spain to the Indus, and for more than 
the first thousand years of the Christian 
Church, knew no other form of sanctuary 



than the apse, and until of late, this uni- 
versal rule has continued unbroken. No 
true Catholic can j)retend for a moment 
that the little corner of the world com- 
posed of the British isles is of authority 
enough to outweigh so vast a preponder- 
ance of Christendom. 

" A strong objection to the square east 
end is that it has proved an irresistible 
temptation to a great east window or great 
east picture ; either one of which is so 
prominent an object in itself as to throw 
the altar, no matter how brilliantly decor- 
ated, into comparative obscurity and in- 
significance. 

" But as symbolism is the soul of all 
church architecture, so the symbolic rea- 
sons for the preference of the apse out- 
weigh all others, and lead us into such a 
mde field that I almost hesitate to enter 
it. The symbolism of the square end is 
good as far as it goes, and all that it 
has of good is equally retained by the 
other. But the apse wonderfully tran- 
scends the square in every respect. 

" The nave represents the Church mil- 
itant ; the choir, the Church triumphant, 
and the sanctuary, heaven itself; the eter- 
nal abode of the ever blessed Trinity. 



22 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



The circular outline of ground plan, wall, 
and converging roof of the apse, convey 
the idea of eternity ; of which the circle 
alone is the universal symbol — not the 
square — and in an ancient apse, with its 
full furniture, the three persons of the Holy 
Trinity were symbolically indicated : God 
the Father by the throne, standing at the 
top of a rising pyramid of steps at the 
east, the visible centre of all things, the 
seat of original power and majesty ; God 
the Son by the altar, on the chord of the 
apse, like the throne set in heaven 'in 
the midst,' and on it the cross, the sym- 
bol of the atonement ; God the Holy 
Spirit by the baldachino, or canopy, over 
the altar, as the holy dove descended and 
abode upon the Lord. The grand outline 
of the circle itself gave the idea of the 
unity of all in one — essence, majesty, and 
power. 

" The seats for the presbyters, that run 
round the curved wall of the apse, are 
the four and twenty elders sitting clothed 
in white raiment. The seven lights of 
the sanctuary are the seven lamj^s that are 
the seven spirits of God. The polished 
and shining marble of the floor is the sea 
of glass, like unto crystal. With these 



sublime realities imaged forth, no matter 
how faintly, in a symbolism like this, who 
is there that would not find himself car- 
ried in spirit up to the very courts of the 
new Jerusalem on high, in that heavenly 
feast in which Christ Himself cometh down 
to us? Who is there that would not real- 
ize more vividly the deep meaning of St. 
Paul's discourse concerning Divine grace 
when he assures us that God ' hath quick- 
ened us together with Christ, and hath 
raised us U23 together, and made us to 
sit together in heavenly places in Christ 
Jesus ' ? " 

The spirit of eclecticism which so large- 
ly pervades modern art, would seem to be- 
long to us as naturally as the English 
language, with its Greek, Latin, German, 
and French derivatives. Why should not 
our architecture equally cull from all 
sources of beauty ? If in some particu- 
lars this fusion of tongues and dialects 
may lack the grandeur of simplicity which 
some original languages possess, it at least 
affords the advantages of being full almost 
to redundancy; and of forming a very per- 
fect channel for the expression of intricate 
ideas. So with modern architecture : ac- 
cumulated as its knowledge has been from 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



23 



the light of past ages. The researches of 
the archseoloo^ist and intercourse with for- 
eign countries have legitimately placed 
this acquired experience of generations 
Avithin the grasp of the practitioner of 
the nineteenth century, to be translated 
and adapted freely by him. 

We in America, in virtue of our pecu- 
liar place in history, are doubly entitled 
to cull from the Old World whatsoever 
may serve to improve and beautify our 
architecture, and impart to it their best 
points of construction and ornament ; and 
thus treated, architecture as an art is 
still, and must ever be, living and pro- 



o;ressive. 



We are, unfortunately, too j)rone to 
imagine that we have already attained 
heio;hts of civilization and culture which 
must leave us an imperishable name in 
all ages to come. But reasoning from an- 
alogy, what assurance have we that this 
will be so ? Other nations have passed 
away, their languages dead, their histories 
a mere tissue of doubt and fable ; all that 
remains of them the massive buildings they 
reared, the immortal works of art they 
wrought, — which not the centuries lying 
between us have succeeded in wholly de- 



stroying. But Avitli all our boasted su- 
periority over them, supposing our civil- 
ization were suddenly to cease, our coun- 
try and government to be destroyed, like 
those of ancient Rome, what would be left 
in an equal lapse of time, to show what 
we were in oui' prime, supposing only 
works of art to be preserved ? Should 
we not, perhaps, be adjudged more bar- 
barous than the peoj)les of previous ages? 
Would the majority of our present churches 
or public buildings speak as much for the 
national advancement in art as the Par- 
thenon, York Minster, or Cologne cathe- 
dral ? We must acknowledge that there 
is much to be learned and done, much 
depending on our using knowledge with 
discretion, and striving in all we do to 
attain the stamp of a characteristic nation- 
ality. 

At the same time that we admire the 
works of Greece and Rome, or the glor- 
ious monuments of mediaeval times, Ave 
should never forget that great part of 
their admirableness consists in their being 
a type and outgrowth of the spirit of 
those ages. It seems folly in an Ameri- 
can architect to wish literally to rejDro- 
cluce them. His European confrere has a 



24 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



more valid excuse in the presence of those 
works around him ; while the interest he 
must necessarily take in archselogical and 
antiquarian researches would, of course, 
color his own ideas in their practical 
working ; but with us, unbiassed as we 
are by ancient examples, it would ap- 
pear that a style peculiar to ourselves 
ought naturally to take the place of oft- 
rej)eated copying from the past. But the 
facts are not so. Not a single attempt 
at an American style has shown itself; 
and we have been astonished to hear 
some of our architects say that they nei- 
ther expected nor endeavored to produce 
anything purely new or original. The 
older members of the profession especial- 
ly seem settled in this conviction — indeed, 
we have one in our mind who repudiates 
all modern work, refuses to read any book 
on architecture published within the last 
fifty years, and looks upon everything not 
practised in his childhood as preposterous 
to practise now. With all due respect 
and admiration for ancient works, we 
consider that our own requirements are 
so difi^erent, that a continuous change in 
architecture should be taking place to 
conform with the same. And this must 



be accomplished by architects up to the 
true spirit of the age, and not by archaeo- 
logists. 

It seems almost superfluous to add that 
a pure Gothic spirit should animate our 
future church architecture — leaving among 
the follies of the past those pagan re- 
naissance copies of Greek temples. For 
what heaven-reaching thoughts are inspired 
by the flat roof of the latter type ? its 
horizontal lines — its heavy-browed portico 
and square-headed windows? What Chris- 
tian sentiments are called forth by its hea- 
then symbols of the inverted torch, the 
heads of bulls and goats, — sacrifice dis- 
pleasing unto God and useless to wash 
away sin, — and its garlands of flowers hung 
round the walls, as though left there by 
the pagan actors in some idolatrous rite ? 
More than this, even the merit of being 
correct copies of the original they do not 
possess, for, in the first place, the Greek 
temples had no windows, by inserting 
which we destroy the simplicity and unity 
of the building ; and, secondly, in order to 
gain room for the people — who originally 
stood outside in the colonnade or peristyle 
surrounding the temple — we cut out this 
latter feature altogether, leaving only the 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



25 



portico in front. Tlie avails are then ex- 
tended to the limits of wliat sliould liave 
l)een tlie peristyle, and the whole affair 
l)eeonies a miserable departure from the 
style it professes to revive. 

Besides this, Christian churches require 
liells ; and to accommodate these we must 
still further outrao-e the proprieties of 
Grreek architecture by piling up a num- 
ber of small porticos, one on the other, 



l)y way of a steeple ; the absurdity of 
which erection, starting out of nothing at 
the top of a j^ortico, is too evident to 
need comment. Surely nothing but a 
false taste can wish to perpetuate these 
monuments of paganism in a Christian 
land, when we have in the splendid me- 
diaeval remains, yet j^reserved, such per- 
fect models of buildings, suited in every 
way to the services of our Church. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE WORKMAN ; PAST AND PRESENT. 



We have in tlie preceding cliapter taken 
some exceptions to modern architecture — 
whose professors have, nevertheless, espe- 
cially in the mother country, wrought out 
some noble works, worthy of going down 
to posterity, side by side mth the mon- 
uments of the past ; — to which the vivi- 
fying hand of modern art has given no 
unworthy restoration of their pristine splen- 
dor. 

But when we seek, below the man of 
culture, the artist deeply learned in the 
secrets of his art, where are we to find 
the able assistants, the workmen, such as 
those who in mediaeval days wrought con 
amove on the edifice his skill devised, and 
felt with him a personal interest in its 
progress, and an equal delight in its suc- 
cess. 

The modern artisan is a being whose 
]Derce]3tions seldom rise above the sordid 
mechanical side of his work: no dream 



of beauty enters his dull brain, glorify- 
ing the labor of forge and chisel, and 
making it something akin to the royal 
toil of painter and sculptor. No poetic 
sympathies, such as inspired the hammer- 
men of old, make him emulous to render 
the least detail that passes beneath his 
hand worthy the grand whole. To drudge 
through his stint, — doing just as little as 
■will pass muster with his superintendent, 
fixing his mind the while, not on the mat- 
ter in hand, but on the beer and beef 
to follow, and the dollars and cents to be 
pocketed, — seems the main idea of the me- 
chanic as he is. 

■ It was in the high standard of the 
workman that the mediaeval architects had 
such an immeasurable advantage over our- 
selves. Without this magnificent coopera- 
tion, they might, perhaps, have been far 
behind us ; but to take one branch alone, 
— look at the freemasons, — that ancient 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



27 



guild wliieli claims to have been lianded 
down in unbroken line from tlie day of 
Solomon. However that may be, we know 
that in the lawless days of old, when an- 
archy, conspiracy, and rebellion seemed the 
normal condition of affairs, while patent 
rights and the like protections were un- 
known, the instinct of self-preservation led 
artisans to band together for mutual aid 
and the preserving and handing down the 
secrets of their craft. So the goldsmiths' 
guild, the merchant tailors', and many 
others were formed, and among them the 
guild of freemasons. We do not know 
that they attained any special prominence 
until about the twelfth century, when the 
Church called in their aid in building 
those superb cathedrals and abbeys which 
now began to rise all over Catholic Eu- 
rope. It was now that what we may call 
the science of Freemasonry, the religious 
and mystic element of the craft, was in- 
troduced by the monks, who conceived 
and planned out what the masons them- 
selves executed. It was then that the 
confraternity, upheld and patronized by 
the Church, was acknowledged as a great 
power; and they walked among men, the 
chosen and protected of God, honored in 



the square, mallet, and compass of their 
trade as the j^ilgrim in his scallop sliellj 
or the knight in his golden spurs. 

It was through this union of scientific 
knowledge in the Churchman with prac- 
tical ability in the builder, that liberty 
of the workman — a principle which may 
be called the life-blood of Gothic art — 
was evolved. Each brother had appointed 
to him his special part of the work, and, 
whether it were the fashioning of finial 
or crocket, niche, tracery, statue, or bas- 
relief, its lavish ornament was the out- 
pouring of his own genius ; and in the 
love and sacrifice of an unfettered spirit, 
he gave, as it were, his life to the work 
under his hands. 

Members of lodges held the various 
grades of master, companion, and aj^pren- 
tice. On the first, who might be either 
monk or layman, devolved the superintend- 
ence and responsibility of the work. The 
companions wi'ought at the exquisite sculp- 
tures, and other ornamental details of the 
building, and the apprentices or laborers 
did the heavy manual part. Thus all 
wrought in harmony, from the mere hewer 
of stone to the master, to whom all 
looked up with reverence. 



28 



CHrRCH ARCHITECTURE. 



Tliere was a broader division of tlie 
fraternity into bands of ten; eacli band 
under tlie leadership of an overseer or 
warden, whose duty it was to instruct tlie 
members of his company in their art, and 
gradually initiate the more deserving into 
the secret symbolism of the craft, and its 
unwritten science of construction. 

In those palmy days for art, moreover, 
which it seems a misnomer to call dark 
ages, the highest ecclesiastics were not 
only patrons, but art-workers in person. 
St. Dunstan, the most accomplished and 
learned prelate of his day, who flourished 
about the middle of the tenth century, 
was not only archbishop of Canterbury, 
and held a position at court, equivalent 
to that of prime minister at the present 
time, but was, likemse, a designer and 
admirable metal-worker — laboring with his 
own hands at the forge to produce those 
exquisite ornaments in wrought metal, for 
which the old cathedrals are famous. Such 
a union of high cultivation, with rare me- 
chanical skill, could not fail to inspire in 
the heart of the working man an equal 
feeling for the esthetic element of his 
toil, and that this was the actual result 
is attested by the fact that those simple 



mechanics, all unknown to fame, filled the 
churches of their day with works which 
artists now eagerly choose as models for 
designs of a similar character. 

The true, and indeed, the only path 
for a return to this standard of appreci- 
ative labor, is the art education of the 
workman. We are not without wealthy 
men, of liberal views, who have founded 
free colleges, schools, and libraries, all 
mth the laudable purpose of improving 
the intellectual status of the lower classes ; 
but these, though admirable in intention, 
do not reach the difficulty. The late Mr. 
Pugin's enthusiasm for art, led him a step 
farther in the right direction. One of 
his many enterprises was the establish- 
ment of a stone-yard, where he personally 
undertook the instruction of workmen in 
the execution of carvings, instinct with 
the spirit of true Gothic. He succeeded 
admirably for a time, and had he not 
become involved in pecuniary difficulties, 
the scheme might have developed in a 
still more extensive form. At present, the 
noble South Kensington museum is being 
daily found of incalculable value, in fa- 
miliarizing the eye and mind of the artisan 
with forms of beauty, and correcting er- 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE, 



29 



roiieons ideas of wliat coustitntes appro- 
priate ornament. Here are to be found 
models and specimens of every imagina- 
l;)le art workmanship ; besides galleries of 
the best modern paintings — all free to 
tlie workman's inspection. There are also 
classes, and competitions for prizes to be 
gained by the best origmal model, or de- 
sign, of a given subject ; and such an 
institution is what we sorely need in this 
country. There would the painter l^e in- 
stmcted in the harmonious blending of 
colors, and the principles of design prac- 
tised among AJ-arious nations and in all 
ages ; — a form of education equally use- 
ful to the designer of carpets, draperies, 
and furniture stuffs. There the carvers, — 
who, perhaps, are well enough able to 
chisel out an ordinary Corinthian cajjital, 
mth its eternal acanthus, but who would 
utterly fail of conceiving or executing the 
spirited and ever varying forms of Gothic 
scroll or leaf work, — would have eye and 
hand taught to appreciate, and work out, 
with feeling and power, those graceful 
lines, whose beauty is ever fresh, ever 
immortal. The plasterer might here ac- 
quire the subtle touch of the artistic 
moulder, and realize that there were 



higher objects to attain than centre-pieces, 
like over-l)lown cabbages, and cornices of 
sprawling, impossible leaves, fruit, and 
flowers, gothic and classic details commin- 
gled, and both spoiled in the execution. 
We may say, that we have never seen 
a piece of ornamental plaster-work, de- 
signed by one of the craft, which had 
the smallest pretensions to artistic merit. 
Lithographic designers would here get the 
" grammar of ornament " at their fingers' 
ends ; instead of producing decorated title- 
pages, which have the appearance of wrap- 
pers for hair-tonic. The very stone-cut- 
ters would be developed into young Rus- 
kins, and the millennium of art might be 
speedily expected. The cabinet-maker, the 
glass-stainer, the potter — are all to be nur- 
tured in the love of the beautiful by our 
lyceum ; but simply to enumerate the var- 
ious trades which would reap its bene- 
fits would occupy more space than we 
could well spare. 

We may conclude by mentioning the 
iron-founders ; who, if the good St. Dun- 
stan be, indeed, their patron saint, had 
best invoke his aid right earnestly, and 
then endeavor, without delay, to reform 
their works, — which are as lamentably cle- 



30 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



ficient ill aiiytliing like art as tliose of 
their fellow meclianics, A dissertation on 
the whole subject of metal work would 
be far beyond the scoj)e of one article, 
but some of the leading j^rinciples of its 
manufacture may be briefly referred to. 

It is of the first importance that every 
design should be not only harmonious and 
consistent in itself, but with the particu- 
lar kind of metal in w^hich it is intended 
to be executed. For example : Designs are 
not unfrequently j)repared for cast iron, 
which ought to have been for wrought 
iron — e^ddenced by those distinctive fea- 
tures which could only fitly belong to the 
latter. By this error, their authors clear- 
ly proclaim an intentional imitation ; just 
as much as thouo-h it were a desio-n for 
stone or wood that they wished to coun- 
terfeit. 

Again, very crude and egotistical ideas 
are entertained by many persons as to the 
manner in which wrought iron work should 
be executed. It is taken for granted, that, 
because welding is a very natural mode 
of making junctions, it was almost uni- 
versally adopted in ancient work ; and 
that any departure therefrom should be 
decried as "not legitimate." It is forgot- 



ten that riveting is a process largely 
attainable only with wi'ought iron, and 
therefore, is also a natural process ; though 
to rely solely thereon in mediaeval design, 
might be considered as "metal joinery." 
The introduction of rivets and bands, so 
far from being inadmissible in welded 
scroll or other work, is productive of agree- 
able variety, providing they are made 
points in the design ; while the proper 
tapering, or diminishing, of all the out- 
growths of scrolls, furnishes the best evi- 
dence of hand-labor having been bestowed 
upon them. Frequently, however, the man- 
ufacturer is restricted in develoj)ing the 
latter feature to its proper extent, by the 
necessity imposed on him of keeping do^vn 
the cost. Complaints are sometimes made, 
not without reason, that smiths will per- 
sist in filing their work, and so obliterat- 
ing the marks of the hammer ; but this 
will rarely be the case when a design is 
such as can fairly be executed by a smith's 
ordinary tools. It is notoriously true, on 
the other hand, that smiths are too often 
expected to forge that which neither ham- 
mer, cutter, nor punch can by any possi- 
bility produce on the anvil. Hence, com- 
plaints are unfairly made, on grounds and 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



31 



for reasons iusuffieieiitly understood. A 
determined and careful study of tlie pro- 
cesses employed In' the best artificers of 
all times, especially our own, in whicli 
mechanical contrivances have been so lar^e- 
ly augmented, would enable artists as well 
as manufacturers to avoid prejudice, cor- 
rect errors, and attain success. 

Still another form of metal work — mal- 
leable cast iron — is by some persons, who 
profess to be very learned in this indus- 
try, rigidly proscribed. These gentlemen 
cannot have endeavored, candidly and hon- 
estly, to comprehend its capabilities ; and, 
in condemning the use of a material which 
modem science has produced, do but re- 
sist a law of commercial economy. Mal- 
leable iron has its legitimate application, 
and this there is no difficulty in defining. 
To adopt it for designs in which the 
chief characteristic suggested to the mind 
would be welding^ is manifestly an ab- 
surdity, because for all practical purposes 
it is incapable of this mode of manipula- 
tion ; and as absurd would be its use for 
those purposes in which ordinary cast iron 
is available. It should always bear the 
impress of its mode of production {casting) 
and when used in the ornate parts of 



work, constructed in frame of wrought iron, 
and secured thereto by means of rivets, 
screwed pieces, or bands, the manufacturer 
has at hand an exceedingly economical 
as well as durable and ductile material, 
cajDable of great variety in treatment, — 
since it can with ease, after j)assing the 
annealing process, be hammered and vari- 
ously shaped. 

Iron work especially, whether for good 
or evil, seems destined to j^lay a conspic- 
uous part in America, and it is of the 
utmost importance to us, if we are to have 
it in such profusion, that it should be good 
and correct. It is the height of folly and 
bad taste to keep on casting and re-cast- 
ing the ■^vretched forms, unworthy the 
name of designs, which, unfortunately, 
crowd our founderies, and then add insult 
to injury by painting and sanding these 
horrors to imitate stone. So many lament- 
able failures have been made in the use 
of iron, that, in despair, we feel almost 
tempted to give the same advice to those 
about to emjDloy it, as Charles Lamb did 
to those about to marry : " Don't ! " 

The correct j^rinciple is, that when a 
new material is brought into requisition, 
a new style should be devised to meet 



32 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



it. This was the case when Gothic archi- 
tecture succeeded Greek, which last, as 
we have shown, was quite inapplicable to 
stone construction. It is neither truthful 
nor correct to rej^roduce Renaissance or 
Gothic fagades in cast iron, nor to veneer 
a brick building with an iron shell, cast 
in imitation of stone courses ; but if, in 
the advance of science, it has been found 
that iron can be used to advantage, it is 
surely possible that the architect of the 
nineteenth century has sufficient courage 
to resist the temptation of reproducing 
existing models, and invention and orig- 
inality enough to found a new order, 
adapted expressly to its use. 

We do not specially admire the eifort 
of Sir JosejDh Paxton, at Sydenham, yet, 
for a beginning, this was certainly credit- 
able. Neither are we pleased with the 
appearance of our modern shops ; where 
the entire facade, though really supported 
by an iron lintel, rests to all outward 
seeming on a single sheet of plate glass ; 
but where the exigencies of trade recjuire 
these large windows, it would be unjust 
in the architect to refuse to answer the 
call. Now, iron seems to have a peculiar 
fitness for this purpose, but good taste 



would suggest a more appropriate mode 
of rendering. 

Once more — to return to the subject of 
art education, from which we had wan- 
dered — how potent would be its influence 
in eradicating the false notions of beauty, 
so generally entertained by workmen. Let 
us imagine ourselves in the cemetery of 
Greenwood ; where, perhaps, is to be found 
a larger collection of execrable attempts 
at art than in any other spot on this con- 
tinent. One of the best tombs- — which 
really looks as though the mausoleum 
maker had been a fellow of some parts — 
is closed by a massive oaken door, secured 
by wrought iron hinges, of admirable de- 
sign. Alas ! here stej)s in the painter ; 
and, with zeal worthy of a better cause, 
besmears the whole with bluish j^aint, 
and then elaborately peppers it with 
white speckles to imitate granite ! (Fancy 
wrought iron hinges worked in granite !) 

" Now, had these children (in art) been 
at home," or acquiring at our institute 
the pro2Der direction for their honest de- 
sire for adornment, just such men as this 
painter would have developed an ambi- 
tion which would have carried them to 
higher things, and an appreciation of real 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



33 



l)eanty. This is no ii('\\- tliouLflit. Tt lias 
tor some years heeii tlie clierislied inten- 
tion of the American Institute of Archi- 
tects to oi'ganize a scliool and museum of 
art, including a library, courses of lectures, 
and classes in design, for the henefit of 
draughtsmen and mechanics, where they 
may freely receive the very best instruc- 
tion, Sucli a sclieme needs only the co- 
operation of men of means, who, by turn- 
ing a portion of their wealth, into this chan- 
nel, aWII be doing quite as good a work 
as founding colleges for instruction in 
Greek and Latin. It should be remem- 
bered, moreover, that tlie benefits of sucli 
a school are, in the end, returned to the 
patrons themselves ; not alone from the im- 
j^etus given to the arts specially relating 
to architecture, but throughout the domain 
of art in general. 

It is believed that the establishment 
of an architectural library alone would 
be an important practical means toward 
encouraging the erection and improvement 
of public and private buildings, in accord- 
ance witk the best jmnciples of art, and 
the latest and most approved develop- 
ments of mechanical science ; and tkus con- 
tributing to the future convenience, ele- 



gance, and money value of ])ro})erty in 
real estate. Our merchants pay heavy pre- 
miums to insure their proj)erty against the 
risks of the elements, and it is oljviously 
as good economy to insure against risks 
of misdirection, and waste of material, time, 
and labor involved in improving their real 
estate, by j)i'0"^icling American architect- 
ural students mth the basis of a sound 
13rofessional education. And ^vhile they 
profit by tke intelligent labors of tke 
thoroughly trained architect, their homes 
may glow witk forms of beauty, wi'ought 
by the hands of artisans whom their lib- 
erality will have freed from the trammels 
of a sordid, unenlightened mind. And 
the men thus educated, would, in turn, 
educate others, and sow the good seed 
broadcast to elevate and refine their fel- 
lows over all tlie land. Now is the time 
to encourage, by every means in our power, 
the culture of the people, if we would 
sbow the Old World that neitker a log- 
kut nor a cast iron Corinthian column is 
the American heaib ideal of art and archi- 
tecture. 

We feel convinced that the right j^ath 
needs only to be jDointed out for our ai-t 
patrons to second us in following it ; while 



34 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



thus guided and elevated, our workers 
will rise to the standard of their fellows 
of old, and filled with the confidence of 
difiiculties surmounted and knowledge at- 
tained, will go on from strength to 
strength, rejoicing unto the end. 

Within a few months, since the above 
was written, a great advance has been 
made toward realizino; these intentions. 
The New York Chapter of the American 
Institute of Architects have not only, 
through the liberality of friends, secured 



several thousand dollars' worth of books 
and photographs, but donations of books, 
models, and pictures, are continually com- 
ing in. Two courses of lectures have 
been delivered through the winter of 
1870-71, and the reading-room is begin- 
ning to be thronged with art students 
every evening. 

It is hoped the public will continue 
their generous cooperation. A Aasit to the 
room, 925 Broadway, will, we think, con- 
vince them of the worthiness of the object. 







h 
< 




:-t1- 



-T. 



- I I 



r- 



T 



I-' 



I I 



1 



! I 



m ' I 



III 






Plate: 2 



D 



E 5 I G N 




20 15 lO 

I I t_ 



5 O 5 

-J I 1 I I I I 



<j^'^pVi^ 'J^iim. 



AM PHQjQ-uTHos/tAPmc CO- u r. ( Osborne's fftocsssj ^ 



I 



DESIGN I 



This design would answer either for a 
small parish church or a chapel. It con- 
tains something less than two hundred sit- 
tings ; having but one alley through the 
centre, with pews on each side. The 
sacristy and organ -chamber are in one. 

The exterior is plain in character, the 
walls being of rubble-work, with corners 
simply tooled, while the string-courses and 
weatherings are of fi'eestone. The only 
peculiar feature is the mode of ventila- 
tion ; the ilue for this purpose being some 
two feet square, and in direct connection 
with smoke-flue from furnace ; the warmth 
fi'om which accelerates the draught, as de- 
scribed in Chapter III. It is carried u]) in 
stone, and surmounted by the bell-cote ; 
grouped vnth which the chimney plays a 
conspicuous part. The bell-rope is passed 
do^vn the ventilator, and is approached 
by a door on the ground floor. 



One objection to a flue of this kind, 
is the fact of the large opening being 
exposed to the weather, and thus becom- 
ing a receptacle for rain. It would, there- 
fore, be necessary to sink the bottom of 
the flue below the main floor, and have it 
cemented water-tio-ht. There should also 
be a drain from this, to carry off any 
water that may enter. 

The dormer windows in the roof, and 
the small window at top of gable, are ar- 
ranged to open on swivels, — serving the 
double purpose of light and ventilation to 
the roof. The crestings and flnials are of 
floriated iron-work, the latter assuming sev- 
eral varieties of the cross form, having a 
striking efi'ect against the sky. 

The roof is covered with purple slate, 
relieved by bands of a green color, cut 
in diamond patterns. We would usually 
deprecate the use of striking contrasts, — 



40 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



whicli are so frequently carried to excess 
— as this, we tliiiik, gives a vulgar, flashy 
apjDearance. When contrasting colors are 
introduced, they should be strictly subor- 
dinated ; simple bands, as in the present 
instance, of very quiet tints, being all that 
is requisite. These are also in strict unity 
wdth the wall-ljands or strinor-courses. 

In selecting slate, great care should be 
exercised in choosing that not liable to 
fade ; as the fading is likely to be irregu- 
lar, giving the roof, after a few years, a 
spotty and ragged appearance. The Penn- 
sylvania slate is considered best for the 
dark varieties, while the best quarries for 
green slate are in Vermont. It is of great 
imjjortance to secure the connections at 
the junction between slate and stonework, 
as, unless this is thoroughly done, leaking 
is sure to ensue. To prevent this a metal 
flashino; should be worked between each 
course of slate, and built securely into the 
stonework. 

An objection has been raised to slate, 
on account of its being hot in summer ; 
but with a properly constructed roof, there 
need be no difliculty of this kind, for, by 
simply furring the slate up an inch or 
two from the ceiling boards, an air-sj^ace 



is formed in the roof, which will prove a 
more effectual l:)arrier to external changes 
than either shingles or tin laid in the or- 
dinary way. Add to this a covering of 
tarred paper, or felt placed between the 
ceiling boards, and furring strij^s, and the 
heat is as effectually excluded, as if there 
were an entire story overhead. The ob- 
ject of the tarring is to prevent leaks ; 
since, though the rain cannot well pene- 
trate the slates, yet, in driving snows, 
enough would be apt to find its way be- 
tween the joints (which cannot T)e made 
sufficiently close to exclude a sharj^ drift), 
to cause leaks which are not apparent 
until the building is heated by the fur- 
nace. 

Paper is well known to be one of the 
best non-conductors, — an expedient fre- 
Cjuently practised by knoAving travellers, 
when far from home, being to supply the 
place of a blanket by slipping a simple 
newspaper between the spreads, — a sub- 
stitute which will be found very efficient. 
And the Norwegian felted boxes, in which 
the heat of cooked food is retained for an 
incredible time, are a striking evidence of 
the efficacy of this material, used as a non- 
conductor. It is a truism, that what mil 



exclude the lieat of summer, will also pre- 
vent the penetration of cold in winter. 
Tlie philosopliy of tliis is, that a material, 
acting as a non-conductor, retains in cold 
weather the warmth within the building, 
and prevents its escape ; acting in the 
same manner to exclude excessive heat in 
summer. 

Another efficient method of accom- 
plishing this, is to add a system of back- 
lathing and plaster between the rafters, 
thus forminff, with the ceilins; under- 
neath, a double air chamber in the roof 
We ^^-ish to call special notice to this 
subject, as the discomfort arising from 
the want of a little attention to it, is 
often of the most serious character ; and 
the expense is so slight, that the savino- 



in fuel for a single winter Avould easily 
make up the difference. 

The subject of gutters is also of great 
importance. These should hang entirely 
out from the walls, so that, in case of 
leaks, the water will drop clear. This is 
an argument in favor of projecting eaves, 
instead of stone parapets, with gutters 
jDlaced behind them. With the latter ar- 
rangement, the water is sure to enter the 
building, to the sorry disfigurement of the 
walls beneath. They are also in constant 
jeopardy, from the accidental falling of 
a slate cutting a hole through the metal ; 
whereas, mth projecting eaves, by hang- 
ing the gutters sufficiently low, slates or 
snow falling from the roof will pass en- 
tirely over, leaving them unharmed. 




i 



I 



CHAPTER III 



VENTILATION. 



OxE of the most imj^ortant matters to 
be considered, in the construction of a 
chiu'ch, is the mode of heating and ventil- 
ation. It seems most extraordinary, that 
in the advanced state of scientific knowl- 
edge, so little attention has been j)aid to 
this subject. Our churches, and public 
buildings in general, have no thought 
whatever given to their ventilation, fur- 
ther than the opening and closing of 
windows, — an expedient usually unpopu- 
lar, on account of the freezing draughts 
thus admitted into an over-heated atmos- 
phere, — causing greater discomfort from 
direct cold, than was occasioned by the 
impure air ; which, like other impure in- 
fluences, we are too apt to tolerate, un- 
til wholesome reform, even in the shape 
of an oj^en window, becomes anything 
but grateful to us. 

It is difficult, too, with only the ex- 
pedient of ojDening windows at our com- 



mand, to regulate ventilation so that all 
may be satisfied. Persons used to out- 
door exercise, whose blood flows rapidly, 
and who are accustomed to fresh air, 
experience a sense of opj^ression on en- 
tering a church, and desire to have the 
windows raised ; whereupon some hypo- 
chondriacal old gentleman, who has sj)ent 
his life in hot rooms, breathing close 
air, and seldom venturing abroad, will 
instantly object — that a draught will kill 
him, and he prefers the air as it is. The 
difference in health and vitality, however, 
is at once manifest from the fact that the 
first individual enjoys a hearty appetite, 
sleeps well, and is a stranger to head- 
ache and other ailments, while our hypo- 
chondriac old friend is exactly the reverse, 
and takes cold when exposed in the slight- 
est manner. Clearly, good ventilation and 
plenty of air are conducive in the highest 
degree to health and long life. 



46 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



It is a well-known pliysiological fact 
that the body in the performance of its 
various functions creates a waste ; and 
the more we exercise the greater is the 
waste occasioned, so that in about every 
seven years the wdiole system is, as it 
were, destroyed, and renewed again from 
the food we eat, which contains all the 
essential elements of our body, — bones, 
blood, flesh, nerves, etc. 

The waste then remains to be dis- 
posed of, and this is effected through 
the agency of the lungs, and the action 
of certain excretory organs; that portion 
which is thrown off by the lungs is 
principally in the form of carbonic acid 
gas. This, being in a warm state, as- 
cends ; but on cooling, becomes heavier 
than the atmosphere, and sinks, diftus- 
ino; itself with that medium. Carbonic 
acid gas is irrespirable, and acts in a 
diluted form as a narcotic poison. Even 
air containing one tenth of its volume 
of this gas, produces a marked effect 
on the circulation of the l:)lood, and in 
sufficient quantities brings it to a stop. 
Any interruption of the circulation will, 
to a greater or less extent, interfere with 
every function of the body. 



To the j)resence and narcotizing effects 
of this poisonous gas, we may attribute 
the drowsiness and heavy sleep which so 
frequently overcomes persons in church ; 
such being its effect on the nerves and 
brain. When the air is pure, the blood 
circulates ra|)idly — we feel alert and vig- 
orous — and a much lower temperature is 
sufficient to keep us comfortably warm. 
When the air is foul, on the contrary, 
the blood flows sluggishly, and a greater 
amount of heat is required; consequently, 
with every window closed, and a huge 
furnace in full l)last, a sufficient amount 
of carbonic acid gas is generated to over- 
master the efforts of the most powerful 
2:)reacher, or the interest of the finest ser- 
vice, to ensure our attention. 

Now there are various modes of es- 
tablishing a thorough system of venti- 
lation, in desci'ibing which we give the 
remarks of Mr. Lewis W. Leeds, the 
eminent ventilating engineer, which he 
has kindly furnished for this work. He 
says : 

"In ventilating a church, one special 
object to be aimed at, is to produce a 
gentle agitation of the air, which shall be 
effectual in removing the exhaled breath, 



^vllile occasioning no i)ercej)tible draught 
in any occupied quarter of tlie room. 

"Too niucli dependence should not be 
])laced on horizontal currents, either for 
the supply of fresh or the removal of foul 
air ; for su];)posing the fresh air to supply 
the tAvelfth person were to pass by eleven 
other bodies at 98°, it would then have 
to start quite cold, or be much warmer 
than agreeable by the time it reached 
that twelfth person. Again, suppose the 
exhausting flues were all on one side, or 
even on both sides of the audience, — to 
remove foul air from the centre, it would 
have to pass by more than half the per- 
sons 2:>resent, before reaching its destina- 
tion. 

"The usual movement of air in a church 
is for that portion of the atmosphere which 
is cooled by the exterior walls to fall on 
the outside, and rise in the centre — oc- 
casioning the unpleasant cold draughts 
complained of so frequently. 

" Now, what is wanted to remedy this, 
is a gentle motion of the air over the 
whole floor. Many attempts have been 
made to secure this by numerous open- 
ings, allowing warmed air to flow in ; 
but there are jDractical objections to this 



system, and it will, therefore, be better 
to remove the foul air from points over 
the floor, which may be done with entire 
success. 

" An important point to be observed 
is, that we should endeavor to imitate 
the action of the sun as far as j^ossible, 
and heat the floor slightly in excess of 
the air in the room ; say to 90° or 95°. 
This, in the first place, keeps the feet 
warmer than the head ; and, at the same 
time, the air above may be kept cool 
and invigorating ; say 50° or 55°. This 
difference in temjDerature, with the great- 
est heat at the bottom, causes the agita- 
tion of the air so needful to ventilation, 
while occasioning no perce23til)le draught. 

" On many of the accompanying plans 
there is a large ventilating shaft shown, 
varying in size from three to five feet 
square. This serves the purpose of cre- 
ating a forced draught, and is depended 
upon as the princij)al means to that end. 
Its practical working may be briefly ex- 
plained as follows : Through the centre 
of the shaft is run in most cases the 
smoke-flue from the furnace, the heat of 
which, by rarifying the air in the large 
shaft, causes a strong upward current ; 



48 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



and tliis is effectual for caiTviuo; oft' the 
carbonic acid gas conveyed thereto from 
various points, by pipes passing beneatL. 
tlie floor. The ordinary small flues placed 
in outer walls have been carefully avoid- 
ed, as they are worse than useless, — ^let- 
ting in cold, when they are expected to 
carry oft' foul air. 

" In summer, when the external and 
internal air are of much the same tera- 
perature, and the furnace not in opera- 
tion, it will be necessary to have a stove 
placed at the bottom of the shaft, as the 
windows are insufticient to ventilate the 
floor. This plan may also be adopted 
where it is inconvenient to arrange a 
smoke-flue, passing through the shaft. 
Where gas is supplied, it would be 
more convenient, j^erhaps, to make use 
of it ; but the amount of gas requisite 
to produce the same degree of heat as 
a good-sized stove would cost ten or 
fifteen times as much, and the probable 
result would be an insufticient amount 
of gas burned to produce the desired 
effect. 

" While I consider it very important 
that there should be provision made for 
the escape of foul air from the floor, it 



must not be understood that it is un- 
necessary to have an escape from the 
top also. Prol^ably three fourths of the 
whole year the excess of foul air would 
be found near the ceiling, especially when 
the gas is lighted. One thing that has 
led to the idea that the exits must be 
at the floor only, is the theory that 
when a room is heated by pouring in 
currents of warmed air, if the openings 
be at the top, this heated, and at the 
same time freshest air, rises immediately 
and escapes there, doing but little to- 
ward warming or ventilating the apart- 
ment. 

"The case is entirely different, however, 
when a direct warmth exists in the solid 
substances surroundino- us. These solid 
bodies — other^vise the floor and outside 
walls — when thus heated give oft' their 
heat, both by direct radiation and direct 
contact, for which reason the fresh air 
entering may be cooler than the tem- 
peratui'e of the room, and would flow 
under the warmer and fouler air that 
had been longer used, which would then 
ascend and require that an escape should 
be provided at the top as well as at 
the bottom. 



" In view of tliese considerations, I 
tliink tlie great object to be attained 
is warmth tlioroiiglily diffused over the 
floors and exterior walls, — steam-pipes 
being one of the best methods of at- 
taining this, and next to these, a hot- 
air furnace. These pipes should run un- 
der the floor and behind the wainscot- 
ing, with a supply of fresh air let in 
over them, directly from the exterior. 
The fires should be made not immedi- 
ately before service-time, thus pouring 
into the lungs a flood of intensely 
heated air, highly injurious to breathe, 
while the floors and walls remain cold, 
but sufficiently early to admit of all the 
solid parts of the building being heated 
to 80° or 90°, some time previous to 
the assembling of the congregation. This 
object attained, the fire should be dimin- 
ished, so as merely to temper the air 



thro-\vn in while the church is occupied. 
Tlie evil effects of breathing over- 
heated air are not generally realized, yet 
a little observation Avill soon convince 
us that the Creator has for some wise 
purpose made the temperature of our 
bodies several deo-rees hio-her than the 
air with which we are usually surround- 
ed, and when ^ve violate this provision 
so far as to live in an atmosphere more 
nearly the temperature of our bodies in- 
jury to health must ensue. 

" Of course it is quite necessary, or 
at all events convenient and pleasant, 
in many cases, to have a considerable 
degree of artificial heat ; Tjut we shall 
find it much more conducive to health 
to be warmed by the direct rays from 
some heated body, and let the air with 
which we are surrounded and which we 
inhale, be cool and invigorating." 



CHAPTER IV. 



AGAINST SHAMS 



We have Ions; had next our heart the 
desire to enter an earnest protest against 
the various shams and falsities of con- 
struction which so abound in our midst, 
Avell nigh to the destruction of anything 
like purity of style, or even truthfulness 
in the material employed. And this is 
one of the main objections to classic 
architecture as opposed to Gothic, — that 
its very method of construction is a 
contradiction to the massive blocks of 
stone or marble, of which its walls are 
formed. 

Vitruvius tells us that the Greeks orig- 
inally built their houses and temples 
of trunks of trees, with lintels or breast- 
summers laid across the toj^s, and rafters 
again resting on these; and when the 
building material was changed to stone, 
the same method was employed ; nor was 
the true principle of stone construction 
discovered until the Go1?hic builders, aban- 



doning the lintel, substituted the arch, 
which embodies its very essence ; its 
voussoips being so many wedges, whose 
strength an excess of superincumbent 
weight augments rather than impairs, 
while the Greek lintel, depending solely 
on the adhesiveness of its particles, stands 
in danger of yielding to the superimposed 
weight just in proportion to the brittle 
quality of the stone employed. A wooden 
lintel has an elasticity of its own ; so 
that a weight sufficient to spring it, 
causes it to yield ; whereas, the slight- 
est spring in stone is liable to break 
it. It follows, then, that a classic build- 
ing in stone is, in one sense, a thorough 
violation of the laws of stability. And 
yet, with us, this lintel style of build- 
ing has been employed to the exclusion 
of everything Gothic; especially in our 
cities, where, in both private and 2)ublic 
buildings, stone columns, suj)porting hori- 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



51 



zontal cornices, and sijuare-lieadcd lintel 
-windows, are universally tlie rule. 

It may be curious and interesting to 
observe en passant some attempts of oui- 
Avould-be classic arcliitects to reconcile tlie 
antagonistic properties of the lintel and 
arch, the principles of which latter they 
have failed most lamentably to appreciate. 
Take, for example, a certain marble bank- 
ing building in our metropolis, usually 
considered the height of perfection, but 
which is, in fact, a volume of inconsis- 
tencies and errors. An imposing arched 
window is introduced on either side of 
the entrance, but so slight aj)pears the 
architect's faith in the strength of his 
arch, that he must needs j)lace a column 
directly under the keystone, as though 
the weight of the opening above might 
possibly drive this Avedge-shaped stone 
through ! But not only is this an absurd- 
ity in an esthetic point of view, it j^rac- 
tically constitutes a Aveakness ; for should 
any settlement take place in the piers, 
this column, by j^reventing the corre- 
sponding settlement of the keystone, might 
eventually drive it upward, and thus en- 
danger the safety of the building. 

In another instance, that of a theatre. 



built by the same architect, our artist 
seems to have gone to the opposite ex- 
treme; and, instead of doubting the 
strength of his arches, has, by the re- 
moval of the pillars directly in front of 
the entrance, left some of them suspended 
in the air! It is true the buildino- is 
virtually strong enough, — its material be- 
ing iron, and the arcade nothing more 
than an iron lintel, — but the absurdity 
cannot be too strongly insisted ujDon of 
using stone detail, treated in a manner 
which would 1)6 impossible were stone 
actually to be employed. 

These suspended arches are a favorite 
device for marking the division between 
long parlors, having only the cohesion 
of the j)laster of which they are com- 
posed, to hold them in j^lace. However 
incorrect this may appear in a dwelling, 
it is certainly a most Avretched device 
when used in place of a proper chancel 
arch, of which practice, we regret to say, 
instances are not wanting. 

We heard, not long ago, of a certain 
Presbyterian church, newly erected, whose 
congregation were in ecstacies over the 
brilliant achievement of having, at last, 
got a house of worship with Gothic 



nave, and aisles, and groined roof (plas- 
ter, of course), minus those inconvenient 
columns which interfere so much with 
the view of the pulpit Boanerges. This 
wonderful result was accomplished by cut- 
ting the pillars short off, within some 
ten feet of the floor, and leaving them 
hanging from the ceiling, theii' ends be- 
ing finished by acorn pendants ! The 
effect must have been truly sublime. 

There are two forms of error in con- 
struction, which are equally wrong, e. </., 
the translating of stone detail into wood, 
and wood into stone. We may instance 
the working of wood into arches — a form 
for which it is utterly unsuitecl — wooden 
panels filled in with arched tracery, and 
the would-be constructional roofs, their 
inter-spaces filled up with unmeaning 
wooden arched-work. All of these go far 
to debase the dignity of otherwise noble 
wood construction. Then again, how of- 
ten do we see panelling in stone sur- 
faces ; a mode of treatment positively op- 
posed to reason and common sense ; for 
it is evident that this panelling has been 
adopted of necessity in wood, — a material 
liable to suffer from the action of heat 
and damp — as a means of obviating in 



part the warping, shrinking and swelling 
of its fibres. 

Take a door for example. It is composed 
of a plank frame, sufficiently narrow to be 
but little affected l:)y the above causes, 
with wider openings, filled in with thin 
boards. These, to secure them in their 
places, are let into grooves in the frame- 
work, without gluing, so that in shrink- 
ing, they may have sufficient play, with- 
out showing an open joint. But to im- 
itate this construction in stone, which is 
already free from tlie liability to shrink, 
seems absurd in the extreme. It may be 
well to decorate blank spaces, but instead 
of imitating the renaissance blunder of 
stone panelling, incised lines of graceful 
design may be most appropriately em- 
ployed ; while openings in woodwork re- 
quiring to be relieved, instead of being 
ornamented with shafts and arches on a 
small scale (which would be translating 
stone details into wood), may be filled in 
with some of those floriated patterns so 
appropriate to Gothic treatment. These 
are pierced through a plank of suitable 
thickness, and are commonly termed scroll- 
work. Better still would be some geo- 
metrical figure, such as the star, quatre- 



I 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



53 



toil, or other symbolic tbrin. In eases 
where shafts and arches have heretofore 
heen employed in order to carry out the 
semblance of strength, upright pieces and 
struts, or brackets, may he used ; the up- 
rights taking the place of columns, and 
the struts that of arches. By this treat- 
ment we obtain an et|ually agreeable 
effect, and in no way depart from the 
true principles of wood construction. 

The renaissance school seeks to conceal 
construction, while in Gothic, construction 
is made ornamental ; a vital and most 
essential point of difference. Let us take, 
for example, St. Paul's cathedral in London. 
Here is the same mode of suj^port re- 
sorted to as in the neia-hborino- cathedral 
of Westminster, to overcome the lateral 
thrust of its vaulted ceilings, but how dif- 
ferently treated I In the latter the airy 
forms and graceful outlines of the flying 
buttresses add greatly to the beauty of 
the building ; in St. Paul's the same fly- 
ing buttresses are employed, but, as though 
they were a dreadful deformity, are con- 
cealed by an enormous screen entirely 
surroundino; the buildino; ! Thus one half 
of the edifice has been erected in order 
to hide the other ! In the dome too the 



same absiu'd method has prevailed ; for 
instead of the real height appearing from 
within, a lower dome has been made to 
cover the construction of the upper. Of a 
kind with these falsities is the tacking up 
of a flat })laster ceiling in a church ; so 
inferior to the grand open timber roofs 
of the Gothic school, where the very ends 
of the beams are exquisitely carved, and 
the intricate system of su2:)i3ort is made a 
source of beauty. 

One peculiarity in Gothic is its entire 
adaptability to every want of the design. 
Uniformity and regularity should be stren- 
uously avoided. It is never required that 
every window must be alike, or that a 
door should be introduced on one side, for 
the A^ery sagacioiis reason that there is a 
door on the other; a principle carried to 
such an extent by the renaissance school 
that false doors and windows are used in 
order to perpetuate a monotonous balance 
of parts. A fundamental rule of Gothic 
is that there shall be nothing unnecessary 
or unconstructional, and nothing put to 
any false use. What can be more absurd 
than running chimneys into finials and 
turrets, or twisting them in order to bring 
them out on a ridge, or other uniform 



54 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



position i If a chimney be necessary, let 
it honestly show as a chimney, for any- 
thing that is useful may be made orna- 
mental in Gothic architecture. 

The system, too, of em2:)loying ornament 
simply as ornament, is most erroneous ; 
such as inserting niches with no statues 
to fill them, windows which give no light, 
mouldings with no meaning or adaptability 
to their position, and crowning absurdity 
of all, wooden buttresses on a miniature 
scale adorning tabernacle work, pew ends, 
and organ-cases indiscriminately. How 
often too in stained glass do we see this 
feature introduced as a mere marginal orna- 
ment — placed against a mullion, which cer- 
tainly does not occasion sufficient lateral 
thrust to require a support of such hercu- 
lean powers. 

Even wooden buttresses are, however, 
hardly so absurd as the wooden battle- 
ments of which some of our older archi- 
tects were so fond. Battlements, originally 
intended as a means of defence, are as 
obsolete and useless at the present day as 
the feudal castle with moat and draw- 
bridge which they once surmounted. But 
to crown Avith these adjuncts of war and 
discord the walls of a church, even though 



it be the Church Militant, is as ridiculous 
as though we were to understand by 
"putting on the whole armor of Christ," 
arraying ourselves in actual coats of 
mail. Worst of all is it to see these 
presiunably massy defenses, their size 
reduced to inches when their prototypes 
may be measured by feet, placed inside 
the church ; reminding one of the famous 
general who threw his embankments on 
the wrono; side of the ditch. 

Another instance of detail in a wrong 
place is the presence of drip mouldings, 
intended to shed water, inside a building ; 
where they can surely be of no possible 
use when the roof is tight. And yet we 
see wooden and plaster tables and drip 
mouldings used continually inside our 
churches, and with as much ostentatious 
display as though either of them had 
any meaning or use. 

And here we may instance a remark 
of Mr. Buskin's with reference to appro- 
priate ornament. He says : " The especial 
condition of true ornament is that it be 
beautiful in its place and nowhere else ; 
and that it aid the effect of every part 
of the building over ^s^diich it has influ- 
ence ; that it does not by its richness 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



0.) 



make other parts bald, or by its delicacy 
make other parts coarse. Every one of 
its (pialities lias reference to its place and 
use ; and it is fitted for its service by 
what would be faults and blemislies if it 
had no special duty." Yet ornaments and 
emblems are frequently applied apparently 
at random, under the stupid idea that 
they "look pretty" and "help to fill up." 
As if anything could be beautiful or ad- 
mirable out of its propel' place ! It is 
the old faljle of the donkey and the lap- 
doo' over ao-ain. We have seen much the 
same remarks as those of Mr. Ruskin 
applied to secular buildings. The ^^^riter 
says : 

" Congruity and incongruity seem no 
more to afiect many architects than they 
do Mumbo Jumbo, or the King of the 
Madingoes. King Pepple or Lord Wel- 
lington will put on a footman's livery and 
a general's cocked hat, and dispense with 
breeches and boots, and so an architect 
will lay hold of any little bit of decora- 
tion to be found in the market ready 
made to order, or will design what may 
in itself be a good idea, and stick it on 
regardless of consequences, to the great 
bewilderment of the admiring spectator. 



A fine range of ofiices recently struck my 
eye, in ^diich on the left of the facade a 
colossal bull's head presided over a cor- 
don of fruits and flowers, of more than 
l^rize proj^ortions, and on the right a 
ram's head did similar duty. Now what 
do these emblems mean ? The owners 
of the property are not Messrs. Bull and 
Ram ; it is not intended for a shambles 
nor a general meat market ; nor is it a 
leather dealer's, or near one. It is pos- 
sible the building was begun when the 
sun was in Taurus, and completed when 
he was in Aries, in so few months are 
great piles like this run up now-a-days. 
The bull does not allude to the Stock 
Exchange, for the house is not near enough 
to where stockbrokers ' most do congre- 
gate '; besides, the other effigy is not a 
bear, and there are no lame ducks. It is 
not a public-house called the Bull and 
Ram, nor is it likely to be turned into 
an hostelry. It would be curious to know 
what other heads will adorn the block 
if this style of decoration be continued." 
Following in the footstej)s of these false 
principles of construction, come the nu- 
merous family of shams ; which, absurd 
as they are in civic buildings, become 



56 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



almost sacrilegious when employed in a 
church dedicated to the worshi]) of the 
God of Truth, and which should conse- 
quently itself be the embodiment of 
truth. 

One instance of sham which must have 
frequently struck the reader's notice, is 
where some buildino- committee, anxious 
to make an external show on small means, 
carry the front gable of their church far 
above the actual roof of the building. 
In fact, however, they could have adopted 
no better means of displaying their lack 
of funds ; for the moment we turn a cor- 
ner the failure of the roof to meet this 
pretentious gable is at once apparent. 

Then again, there is the sham of sand- 
ing and blocking off brick or j^laster to 
represent stone ; a practice as reprehen- 
sible as it is inexcusable. If the building 
is of brick, let it show brick honestly ; if 
the walls are plaster, why there is nothing 
dishonorable in plaster, to say nothing 
of the many correct and really beautiful 
modes of decorating such walls. So, too, 
with the woodwork; which it is equally 
false and useless to disguise with graining 
which deceives nobody. If we cannot 
afford an expensive material, plain deal 



or pine, honestly treated, may 2)roduce a 
highly agreeable effect. 

A truly laughable device is the imita- 
tion groined roofs made of plaster which 
we sometimes meet with even in build- 
ings of very fair pretensions. These sup- 
posititious masses of stone can be compared 
to nothing so aptly as to Chinese forts 
of canvas, painted in the semblance of 
granite blocks, and bristling with wooden 
guns, which are confidently expected to 
strike such terror to the hearts of the 
enemy, that they will never dream of at- 
tacking so formidable a defence. Of course 
the buildings endowed with these jDonder- 
ous ceilings are plentifully gifted with 
buttresses of the most massive description, 
without which the roof might a]3pear in 
danger of falling on the heads of those 
below ! 

One more, and perhaps the grossest of 
the shams that have crept into church 
architecture, is the coloring of walls and 
ceilings to represent elaborate mouldings 
and carvings, columns and arches, adorned 
with crockets and ornamental finials. We 
have seen recesses, or even chancels, de- 
picted in perspective on the flat eastern 
wall, with about as much effect of reality 



as tlie scene ])aiiitiiig of ouv provincial 
stage ; and in many instances, on all four 
sides of the to^ver of a country cliui'cli, 
four imitation clock-faces witli liands 
everlastingly pointing to tlie same hour 
and minute, as though Time itself had 
been brought to a stand still ! "We may 
be allowed to remai'k that a chui'ch clock 
is the one above all others to which we 
would look for the true time, and seeing 
such ■ a lamentable instance of sham as 
that we have mentioned above, our first 
impulse would be to conclude that A^ery 
little of any kind of truth or sincerity 
was to be found in fliat church. 

We chanced the other day to come 
across a description of a certain church 
built some years ago, which struck us as 
such an asrsclomeration of bad architecture 
and shams of all kinds, that we give its 
substance below, as strikingly adapted to 
exemplify the fraud and neglect of eccle- 
siology which so militate against true art : 

" Church is of brick, with very 

thin walls, painted broAvn, blocked off 
and sanded. It is cruciform in plan, and 
so low, the tower included, as hardly 
to meet the tops of the neighboring 
houses. The whole expression is ' the 



cliurch crushed do^^•n l)y the world.' 
Orientation is reversed. 

" In the interior there is a very shallow 
chancel of one l>ay; the altar, the poorest 
piece of furniture in the church, being- 
painted white, and resting without step 
or dais directly on the floor. There is a 
small lectern very like a music-stand, and 
a low reredos which shows some rich 
carving in black walnut. The pulpit is 
of black walnut, mth some very good 
carved enrichment around the top. This 
carved work is made of cement^ painted ; 
as is also the carved work of the reredos. 
The font is an old garden vase, with a 
rotary top, placed near the north pier of 
the chancel. The chancel window is of 
five bays — in the centre is a very dingy 
dove, surrounded by radiating yellow. 
The lio-ht from this window in the after- 
noon was so overpowering that it has 
been covered outside with heavy white 
canvas. (If Orientation had been observed 
this light would have been at the back 
of the congregation and given no trouble; 
a practical reason for its use which may 
convince those who would object to it on 
purely symholic grounds.) The west win- 
dow has, like that in the chancel, five 



bays. It is crossed by a beavy organ 
gallery, wbicb cuts off all but about a 
foot of tbe window lights; besides wbicb, 
tbe wbole of tbe upper jjart will be 
either blocked up by the organ or boarded 
over. The frame of the gallery has shrunk 
so much that there is already danger of a 
gap between it and the wall. The tran- 
sept windows are of four lights, and the 
rest of the windows of two lights each, 
all flamboyant, the tracery of pine, 
painted brown and sanded. The piers 
are of wood coated with j^laster to look 
like cluster shafts of stone, and to com- 
plete the deception they have rich floriated 
capitals — of cement. The responds do not 
even enclose a wooden beam, but are of 
lath and plaster, supported on segments 
of inch board, tacked to the wall by a 
couple of nails. These likewise have flori- 
ated capitals of cement. The nave roof 
is open, the principal rafters of nave and 
transej^t bound together by an arch of 
good span but weak construction, the 
interval between the arch and rafter being 
filled with complicated flamboyant tracery 
cut from two inch plank. We suspect 
the existence somewhere of concealed iron 
rods. The aisles have apjDarently low 



double roofs, but the inner half of them 
is false ; they are in reality lean-to's. The 
whole roof is of pine grained to imitate 
oak. The plaster finish of the walls is 
lined and colored to imitate stone. The 
sacristy seems to have been an after- 
thought, only erected when the rest of 
the building was finished ; for it blocks 
uj) the lower half of two windows in a 
very unsightly way. 

" The outside of this church presents one 
singular feature. On the front of the 
south transept are a couple of buttresses 
which have no lower parts at all, but 
spring out from the wall at the place 
where they would in ordinary cases have 
had a set-off. As the fence runs close uj^ 
against the church in this place, we can 
only suppose it was considered that this 
remarkable piece of construction would 
never be noticed. 

"The church was built as a free chapel 
for the poor ; but as the neighborhood 
has but few poor the plan has been 
changed, and though still retaining the 

name of free church of , the pews 

are sold or rented. There is no alms- 
chest by the door, but instead there is 
a j)lan of pews with the tariff' only attached 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



50 



to each. It is a i)ity tlie architect "would 
not rise to tlio discovery that there 
is some higlier principle in church ar- 
chitecture than merely producing the 
greatest possible show at the smallest 
possible expense. The money laid out 
on this building, if expended on honest 
and appropriate architecture, instead of 
shams, would have produced a building 
worthy the service of the God of truth, 
and far better in its eifect upon the mind 
and heart of man." 

It may be said by some, " But where 
is the harm of all this ? It pleases the 
j)ublic — so why condemn it ? " Herein lies 
the harm: in the debasing and falsely ed- 
ucating public taste. Every structure that 
is built u];)on other than honest princi- 
ples, does just so much toward confirming 
a low standard of excellence and retarding 
the progress of true art ; and every archi- 
tect who consents to falsities of this kind 
commits a sin for which he is answerable 
to generations to come. It is just be- 
cause people are so thoroughly imbued 
with these debased ideas, that so many 
expensive edifices are erected of a char- 
acter thoroughly unworthy their object; 
and Avhy frequently the most lovely de- 



signs, emanating from tlie highest talent 
in the j)rofession, are discarded for mis- 
erable abortions, the productions of mere 
tyros. We remember hearing it said by 
one of the most eminent architects in the 
country, in commenting on his success in 
an important competition, that he had 
gained it only by making his design as 
bad as it could well be. With great in- 
genuity, after he had secured the business, 
he contrived to substitute for his premium 
design one of high architectural merit ; 
and he finally produced a building so 
creditable that had it originally been 
offered in competition it would certainly 
have been rejected as too entirely ridicu- 
lous for the consideration of the intelli- 
gent (?) building committee. But our ar- 
tist knew too well the quality of the men 
he would have to deal Avith to throw his 
pearls only to be trodden under foot, and 
deluded the committee to their own good 
accordingly. It is saddening, however, to 
think of the state of ignorance on ai-t 
matters in which such an affair as Ave 
haA^e just described could be j)ossible. 
This experience, extraordinary as it may 
seem, is being repeated time after time 
every year; all OAving the familiarity of 



60 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



bad arcliitecture to tlie public eye, and the 
novelty and (apparent) singularity of that 
wMcli is good; more particularly in this 
country. In England, and on the conti- 
nent, if designs are offered in competition, 
almost universally the best is accepted ; 
for there, o-ood architecture is the rule, 
and public taste is educated accordingly. 
As a general thing, experts are called 
in to give an opinion, which is always 
respected, and in the majority of cases 
acted upon. But with us, if deference is 
paid to the o2:)inion of any one it is 
to that of some successful bricklayer or 
" boss " carpenter. Such are the authori- 
ties to whom our solid men are wont to 
refer on disputed points of esthetics. 

Frequently, too, in the event of a first- 
class man being employed, his design is 
so interfered with by ignorant building 
committees that the entire spirit is un- 
avoidably lost ; and the design is usually 
accepted under conditions which, if com- 
plied with, are sure to destroy some of 
the architect's ablest efi^orts. We could 
cite numerous instances of this, but will 
take the expeiience of Mr. Blomfield as 
a fair specimen. His design for a new 
chancel to a certain church in England 



having been accepted, the parish instantly 
proceeded to saddle him with a string of 
conditions, as follows : 

" The committee approves of the plans 
now sul^mitted for altering the parish 
church, subject to the following amend- 
ments : 

" 1. That there is to be no elevation 
of the communion table by means of 
steps. 

"2. Nor any elevation of the chancel 
floor as now existing. 

" 3. The screen as shown is to be 
omitted. 

" 4. That no decoration shall be intro- 
duced without consultation with the 
churchwardens and parishioners. 

" 5. And that the ])lans and specifica- 
tions be submitted to the churchwardens." 

To this impertinent interference the 
architect very properly replied : 

" I may as well say at once that it 
would be quite impossible for me to j)i'o- 
ceed with the work in accordance with 
these resolutions. I may particularly spe- 
cify Nos. 1, 2, and 3. To say nothing 
of my own reputation as a church archi- 
tect, which would naturally sufter when 
the work was done, and the blunders 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



Gl 



apparent, I am sure siicli a plan Avould 
never receive tlie approbation of the 
bislioj), nor should I like to ask it. 

"Nos. 4 and 5 I have no objection to, 
but Nos. 1, 2, and 3, so completely upset 
the possibility of a proper or even de- 
cent arrangement of choir and chancel, 
that if insisted on I must decline having 
anything more to do ^^ith the work." 

But it is not alone in competitions or 
under direction of committees that this 
sort of interference is exercised, and igno- 
rance shown. It is not one time in twenty 
that we find our wealthy citizens, in im- 
proving their j^rivate property, employing 
the best architects. Instead of this, orders 
for expensive and would-be elegant houses 
are given to men held in so low estima- 
tion by the intelligent members of the 
profession, that many of them have tried 
in vain to gain admittance into the In- 
stitute, and have been rejected as not pos- 
sessing the first qualifications of true 
architects. 

But the time must come when a great 
awakening will take j)lace in the public 
mind, and it will be generally apj)re- 
ciated that without truth and purity of 
intention in the design, beauty is not pos- 



sible. Overloading a plain or a weak dv- 
sign with much meretricious ornament does 
not mitigate its defects ; on the contrary, 
it makes them more ap])ai'ent. Because 
a man has a warehouse to Iniild — and a 
warehouse jjure and simple is decidedly 
an inartistic object — he must not therefore 
set to work to make it resemble exter- 
nally a ducal palace, or an edifice of great 
civic importance. The ornaments pre- 
scribed by truth would be those befitting 
the jDurpose of the building and the uses 
to which it was to be applied ; l)ut it 
would not allow the enrichment of a 
plain mass with a view to raise it to the 
pitch of beauty possessed by a building 
of more elaborate figure. 

The works of the thirteenth century 
are eminently truthful in intention. They 
tell the story of their use without disguise 
or prevarication. They do not seek to ap- 
pear more noble or higher in the scale of 
beauty than they are placed as respects 
the arrangement, configuration and balance 
of the masses of which they are composed. 
Simplicity and truth are characteristics of 
a style which all accept as thoroughly 
honest, and preeminently consistent and 
appropriate. 



62 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



Thus mucli for correctness in building. 
And now as to sliams — tliose arcli-enemies 
of true art — what shall be said? "What can 
be said but that they deserve to be ban- 
ished to that limbo where (let us hope) 
they will one day be sunk by mutual 
consent of all civilized peoples. It surely 
is not too much to hope that a day will 
come when plaster capitals and wooden 
tracery will be felt as unworthy substi- 
tutes for genuine art as the glass beads 
of a savage to replace priceless jewels ; 
and their employment as repugnant to 
good taste and high feeling as the 
wearing of paste-diamonds would be. 
The temper of mankind cannot surely 
have so entirely changed since the thir- 
teenth century that there is no hope of 
good work ever being appreciated — and 
the artist who works for the advancement 
of the art that he loves will as surely win 
in the end, as falsities and improprieties 
must finally sink into the contemj^t which 
alone they merit. 

In conclusion we quote the words of a 
well-known writer, speaking of the neces- 
sity of honesty in every department of 
art: 

" The princi]3le which artists now have 



mainly to contend for, is that of Truth, 
— forgotten, trodden under foot, and hated 
for ages ; this must be their watchword. 
If they be architects, let them remember 
how vitally necessary it is to any per- 
manent success in even the smallest of 
their works ; or sculptors, let them recall 
how vain and unsatisfactory has been the 
abandonment of truth in their attempts 
to revive among us what in classic times 
were real representations, and natural 
Avorks of art, but which are so no longer ; 
if painters, let them consider the impor- 
tance of truth in their delineations of 
natural forms, if they are ever to create 
a school of art by which they may be 
remembered. 

" Finally, I wish that all artists would 
bear in mind the great fact, which sep- 
arates even the best of them by so mde 
a gap from the architects, scul]3tors, and 
painters of old, — their earnestness, and 
thorough self-sacrifice in the pursuit of 
art and the exaltation of religion. They 
were men who had a living faith, and 
hearts bent on its propagation ; and had 
it not been for this, their works would 
never have had the vigor and freshness 
which even now they retain so remarkably. 



" Wliy should \ve not, three centuries 
hence, be c'(|ually remembered? Have we 
less to contend for than they because 
we live in later days 'i Or, is it true 
that the temper of man has changed — 
and with it the vocation of art ? Is it true 
that the painter must now content himself 
with limning the portraits of the rich and 
noble, and occasionally those of their dogs 
and horses; the sculptor with carving busts 
of his patrons, while the architect's high- 
est aim is to build palaces, wherein they 
may indulge every extreme of luxury? Is 



not the truth i-ather that the artistic vo- 
cation, now as ever, should lead, and not 
follow, the stream — to show the world that 
there may still be elements of the sublime 
about men's works even in the midst of 
effeminate luxury — and that art, rising 
even from the deadliest sleep, can once 
more buckle on her armor, and full of 
the generous spirit of old, breast all dif- 
ficulties and surmount all opposition ; — 
with the one aim to do all she does 
in faith, truth ever before her eyes and 
manifest in all her works ? 



DESIGN II 



The accompanying design was intended 
for a parisli just started in one of tlie man- 
ufacturing districts of Pennsylvania. Tlie 
object of the members was to begin in a 
small way, by simply erecting a nave, as 
shown in jAan No. 1, hoping that God 
would hear their prayers, and send them 
means to add transepts and a chancel ; to- 
gether with a tower and vestry-room. This 
first plan, however, by no means presents an 
unchurchly appearance. The choir and sanc- 
tuary, situated at the east end of the nave, 
are flanked by open sc'reens of good design, 
executed in chestnut. The organ occupies 
one side of this, and the sacristy the other. 



The chancel furniture, it was deter- 
mined, should be of materials and design 
suitable for the future enlarged edifice ; 
and the windows were also as handsome 
as could be afforded, with the same view. 
And in order that nothing might be 
wasted, the bell-cote was to be removed, 
and placed upon the tower when erected. 

The roof is of an ojDen timber charac- 
ter, the rafters and trusses splayed, and 
showing a pleasing wood construction. 
The number of sittings in the first plan 
was about two hundred and twenty, while 
on the second, they will be increased to 
some three hundred and fifty. 



z 
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3 § 

I 

5 
I 

2- * 

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I 
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I 

2. * 



DO 

LD 



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i 



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LATE 



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ET.SIEN 













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Fig. 2 



AM.FMOrO-LITHOGKAFHIC CC N. Y. .' aSeORflLS -r.,jC€SS.I 



CHAPTER V, 



A FEW WORDS ON SMALL BEGINNINGS. 



Our readers may, perhaps, be surprised 
that we should advocate the building of 
wooden churches, after what we have said 
against reproducing in this material fonns 
originally intended for stone, but as will 
be seen, by reference to the following 
design, it is quite possible to build a 
Grothic church of wood, without, in any 
case, departing from the treatment suit- 
able to a timber construction. And we 
cannot but think there are many cases 
wherein wood may be used with greater 
propriety than brick or stone ; for in- 
stance, in a small, struggling parish in 
the West or South. Here it would sure- 
ly be far better to erect a simple tim- 
ber church, the material for which is 
close at hand, than to transport brick 
or stone from a distance, at great ex- 
pense, and run in debt to put up a 
costly structure in the first instance. Even 
if the parish succeed in furnishing this. 



they will probably not be able to do 
so in genuine material throughout ; and 
so all sorts of paint and plaster shams 
will inevitably be introduced— every one 
of which detracts just so much from the 
architectural character of the building, and, 
in the end, costs as much, or more, than 
honest work would have done. But if 
the more sensible, if less ambitious, plan 
is pursued, and truly ecclesiastical struc- 
tures be built, albeit only of pine plank, 
they will be certain to prove satisfactory. 
And let no little band of Christ's peo- 
ple become discouraged, because they are 
so few or so poor, from making an effort 
to get something like a place of worship. 
With a little assistance and advice they 
might even with their own hands do all 
that was necessary for a commencement. 
For instance, let us take the case of a 
newly-started mission in the " mlds of 
New Jersey." The only place that could 



70 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



be liad for tlie services was an " upper 
chamber," simply furnished as a lecture- 
room, Avith. a reading desk and a few 
forms. But as the number of Church 
members increased, it was thought best 
to celebrate the Holy Communion there 
instead of going to the 2:)arent church of 

M . Then, of course, some different 

arrangements had to be made. They had 
only ninety dollars on hand, but deter- 
mined to do the best they could with 
that. The first thing was to raise a jDlat- 
form twelve inches high across the end 
of the room, extending out some twelve 
feet ; and upon this was raised a plat- 
form, or dais, for the altar. The latter 
took half the money (forty -five dollars) ; 
but it was determined to have an altar 
at least which could be used in the fu- 
ture church. It was five feet long by 
two and a half wide, of solid oak, sim- 
ply ornamented on the front with a Greek 
cross within a circle. The slab of dove- 
colored marl)le, marked with the five sym- 
bolic crosses, had an excellent efl^ect. 
There was also a prothesis, or credence, 
in the form of a shelf supported on brack- 
ets. On one side of the lower platform 
was placed a low desk facing across the 



extempore chancel, from which prayers 
Avere read, and behind this a stall-like 
seat, large enough for two. On the other 
side was placed a lectern from which the 
Lessons were read, and which also served 
for preaching ; and, lastly, the whole space 
was divided ofi" hj a solid railing. 

Now, all this furniture, simj^ly made 
of pine, stained and varnished, twenty- 
one feet of railing, desk, stall, lectern, 
and prothesis, cost but thirty-four dollars ; 
showing that church fittings can be had 
correct, yet inexpensive. (These prices, 
however, are ante-war.) 

Still another case was that of a new 
mission in New Jersey, where not even a 
barn could be found which mis-ht be fit- 
ted up for the services of the Church. 
Still full of faith, the missionaries hoped 
to interest some one in their work, and 
it seemed as though God was working 
with them ; for the first day on which 
they commenced making inquiries, the first 
person they met offered them a beautiful 
site for a church in the outskirts of the 
village, together Avith twenty-fi^^e dollars 
to assist in its erection. The next per- 
son offered fifty dollars, the next twenty ; 
and so on, till, in the space of tAVO hours. 



a site had ])vvn t)btaiued, and two liun- 
dred dollars subscribed. On leaving the 
village, quite a number of tlie inhabi- 
tants assembled; and insisted on firing 
off an old cannon in honor of what had 
l)een done ; after which the j^riest ascend- 
ed the cannon, made some appropriate 
remarks, with resj^ect to his being a sol- 
dier of the Prince of Peace, blessed the 
people, and departed. Before long the 
two hundred dollars were increased to 
ten hundred ; plans were prepared, and 
the work commenced. All the stone for 
the foundation was carted by the people 
themselves ; one young farmer declaring 
that his team should not be taken off 
until the work was finished. 

The cost of this church did not exceed 
twelve hundred dollars ; yet all was Avell, 
and, Avhat is better, correctly done. The 
material was, of course, wood — triangular 
heads being adopted for the windows, 
as being more true to the material than 
the arch form. The chancel was fitted 
up with aj^projDriate furniture, and the 
font placed near the western entrance. 
We merely mention these cases as show- 
ing what may be done, rightly and Avell, 
on small means ; and how entirely with- 



out excuse it is, for even the poorest or 
most thinly settled place, to be without 
a chui'ch. 

There is also this advantage about a 
wooden church, that it can Ije readily 
altered and enlarged, should circumstances 
require it. We have frequently seen such 
a building cut in tw^o in the centre, and 
one or two extra bays inserted, while 
the chancel was left undisturbed. By 
this device a half or a third more sit- 
tings may be ol^tainecl. 

We are at present engaged on the en- 
largement of a wooden church, by the 
addition of lean-to transepts, which had 
previously been altered in the manner 
above described ; and should it be re- 
quired, the transepts can at any time 
be extended into aisles ; in fact there 
is scarcely any limit to the extent of 
the alterations that may be effected. It 
is intended in the course of time to erect 
a large and substantial stone church as 
means are forthcoming ; one wing, indeed, 
being already completed, and now used 
as a Sunday School. The new windows 
and chancel furniture are to be used 
eventually in the new edifice; and so 
the work will go gradually on, perhaps 



72 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



to be finislied by anotlier generation, but 
with no embarrassing and liumiliating load 
of debt incurred, wHcli must, in a great 
measure, detract from the cliurch's useful- 
ness. 

Although, in erecting a wooden church, 
it may be the intention to supj)lant it 
by one of more expensive material, yet 
it is well known that many of these 
have stood to a great age, while still in 
perfect preservation. We may remark, in 
this country, St. James's, Newtown, Long 
Island, which is nearly one hundred and 
fifty years old, and another, also on Long 
Island, built in 1720, which, with ordinary 
care, is thought certain to last fifty years 
longer. But in England, in the town of 
Greensted, Essex, there is a small wooden 
church, built of half-logs of oak, with 
the bark on, which dates from the year 
1013. This building was lately restored; 
and not a single entire log was con- 
demned; only the sills and butt-ends of 
the uprights having decayed. The tim- 
ber churches of Norway are also well 
known ; some of which date back as 
far as the eleventh and twelfth centuries. 

It may not be out of place, in an ar- 
ticle on small beginnings, to suggest a 



way in which Communion plate may be 
obtained in j)ooy parishes, where, perhaps, 
])eioter vessels have been the only ones 
in use for this holy service. In one such 
parish a collection Avas made among the 
j)eople of every scrap of worn-out and 
broken gold and silver ; even teaspoons, 
small articles of jewelry and pencil-cases 
being thankfully received. Similar con- 
tributions were obtained from friends in 
every direction ; and ultimately enough 
material was collected to make a chalice 
and paten, a small fiagon and perforated 
spoon, silver- gilt, and of correct pattern ; 
though, of course, quite plain. 

Now, this we think a most excellent 
suggestion to be followed under similar 
circumstances. Of course, if larger and 
handsomer articles were given, so much 
more to the credit of the givers. Who 
does not think the old cavaliers noble 
and devoted men — who were ready even 
to melt up their family plate in the ser- 
vice of their king \ How much more 
worthy a sacrifice would it be for Church- 
men to forego the pleasure of having sil- 
ver and gold to adorn their tables or 
persons, in order to supply God's House 
with the sacred vessels belonging to His 



Altar, -wlieu tliese could not otlierwise be 
obtained. 

We once knew a most lovely and Chris- 
tian young lady, tlie wife of a clergyman, 
who gladly disposed of all the silver and 
the India shawl given her on her mar- 
riage, in order that she might use the 
means thus obtained for the adornment 
of he]" husband's church; just then com- 



mencing its existence amid poverty and 
discouragement. Who can doubt that God 
looks with approval on such a spiiit of 
self-sacritice, so in accordance with that 
of the men of old, AA^hose first thought 
was for the Church and her honor? 
Would that such examples might be 
multiplied throughout the length and 
breadth of oui" land. 



DESIGN III. 



The accompanying design, whicli is in- 
tended for a small wooden cliurcli, con- 
tains some four hundred and fifty sittings 
and is well adajDted for a country parish 
where means are limited. The style is 
purely Gothic, yet every particle of the 
treatment is true to the material ; no 
mimicry of stone being anywhere at- 
tempted. It consists of nave and aisles, 
with chancel and organ chamber; the lat- 
ter being sufiiciently large to accommo- 
date the sacristy. This has the usual 
external porch, and is fitted up with 
di'essing-room conveniences. The roof is 
of high-pitch open timber character, slight- 
ly decorated, and, together with the furni- 
ture and fittings, is constructed entirely of 
pine, stained and oiled. This furniture is 
rendered in the simplest manner, its beauty 
depending chiefly on correct outline. 

The chancel, divided into choir and 
sanctuary, is separated from the nave 
by a rood-screen, which is formed in the 



following manner: A support being re- 
quired for the belfiy, placed directly 
over the chancel arch, the foundation 
wall is carried along between nave and 
chancel, and on it are raised two jDOsts, 
dividing the arch into three spaces. Upon 
these j^osts rests a tie-beam, on a level 
with the wall-]3late, and over this again 
are two timbers, in the form of a St. 
Andrew's cross — the ends butting against 
the principals of nave roof. Here there 
is a second tie-beam, which being above 
chancel arch, is not visible, and over this 
again, two cross timbers. The side di- 
visions on floor, caused by the uprights, 
are filled in with wrought metal screen- 
work of graceful design, and the centre 
with metal gates — all of a character suffi- 
ciently open not to obstruct the view, 
and richly decorated in polychrome. 

T]ie pews are arranged with a view 
to free sittings, especially the forms lo- 
cated in the centre alley, which, being 



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iuo\;iliK\ can iviulily l)e put aside, in 
case of ])rocessioiial eereiiiouies, weddings, 
and funerals, leaving a passage of extra 
width. The font is placed at the west- 
ern entrance; it beino; thought iiunec- 
essary in a church of these pretensions 
to have a separate baptistery. 

The church is simply lighted by mul- 
lion windows alono- the aisles, and three 
six-light gablets above. The clere-story is 
perforated by quatre-foils in the inter- 
spaces. The object of introducing the 
horizontal transom in the gable Avin- 
dows is in order that the main roof- 
plate may be continuous, as the cutting 
of this member would greatly weaken 
the buildino;. 

Ventilation is amply provided by means 
of the large ilue shown in sacristy. This 
is warmed in winter (to accelerate the 
passage of foul air), through its conti- 
guity to the smoke-flue from the furnace. 
Both these are carried above the roof, as 
shown, the smoke-flue being carried some- 
what higher than the ventilator, giving 
emphasis and distinction to the former, 
and likewise dispersing the smoke at a 
greater elevation. 



One peculiar feature in this design is 
the mode of resisting the lateral thrust 
of the roof; a difficult matter Avith tim- 
ber walls, Avhich offer so much less resist- 
ance than stone. This is done T)y l)rac- 
ing the main posts at points between 
the bays, Avith strong diagonal timbers 
jDrojecting some eight feet beyond the 
walls, their ends resting on stone founda- 
tions which amply secure them against the 
ground. These timbers are cased, and 
their tops covered by Avooden Aveather- 
ings, giving much the appearance of fl}- 
ing buttresses, Avhile at the same time 
their motive is purely a timber con- 
struction. By being placed higher up 
they might be a continuation of the 
principal rafters of aisle roof, and thus 
be of a simpler, though less effective 
character. 

The roof may be covered AAath either 
shingles or slate. 

We think a Avooclen clere-story objec- 
tionable when applied to a stone church 
as not Ijeing true to the material mainh' 
employed ; but in an edifice of this de- 
scription, a timber clere-story, treated in a 
suitable manner, is highly appropriate. 



CHAPTER YI. 



CHURCH SITE AND SURROUNDINGS, 



The site of a cliurcli, more tlian auy 
other "building, ought surely to be now, 
as in ancient times, tlie subject of earn- 
est consideration and thoughtful choice. 
Not but that the house of God equally 
commands our reverence in whatever spot 
we may find it ; but a due regard to 
surroundings certainly has somewhat to 
do with the emotions it awakens. In 
the city, where we are cii'cumscribed by 
the limits of two or three scanty lots, 
there is not, indeed, much room for 
choice, except so far as a corner, front- 
ing on two streets, and Avhere orienta- 
tion can be observed, is an advantage. 
Proximity to buildings of sufficient mag- 
nitude to mar the effect should be avoid- 
ed, and the space provided be large 
enough to allow of light and air being 
admitted on all sides. We should also 
not suffer ourselves to be bound by the 
laws of street alignement, but set the 



building back a sufficient distance to 
admit of an ample court-yard. In the 
country, however, where room is unlim- 
ited and land comparatively cheaj), there 
ought to be no exception to the rule 
that the church occupy the best jAace 
in all respects, that can be selected. 
Yet how often do we find its locality 
to be a plot of ground given by some 
wealthy parishioner, and chosen as the 
piece he can most conveniently alienate 
from his broad acres, — j)erhaps low, ill- 
drained, far from the centre of the place, 
and only available, not desirable, after a 
vast exjDense in draining and grading has 
been gone through l^y the recipients. 
Or, it is a barren, treeless spot on the 
bleak, blo^vn top of a hill, exposed to 
driving rain in winter, and pitiless heat 
in summer, the many points desirable in 
the situation of a church subverted to 
the private interests of the donor, who 






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faucies the j)roxiuiity of the house of 
God may improve the v^alue of this or 
that portiou of his property. 

Scarcely ever, it would seem, is the 
site of tlie modern church chosen pure- 
ly with reference to its suitability. So 
much was this regarded in mediaeval 
days, that the structure seemed rather 
a natural outo-rowth of the soil than to 
have been raised there by man's hands. 
The modern edifice, on the contrary, is 
too often an excrescence, which might 
have been j^laced anywhere, and had 
far better have been j^laced nowhere. 

The determining of the best situation 
for God's house was a matter of care- 
ful consideration with King David, as 
we read in Psalm cxxxii : " Surely I will 
not come into the tabernacle of my 
house, nor go up into my bed ; I will 
not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber 
to mine eyelids, until I find out a place 
for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty 
God of Jacob. Lo, we heard of it at 
Ephratah: we found it in the fields of 
the wood." And certainly we cannot say, 
with any truth, in the words of David, 
" Lord, I have loved the habitation of 
Thy house and the place where Thine 



honor dwelleth," unless we repudiate the 
princij)le so general in the present day 
of giving not the best to God, but only 
those superfluities that can be easily 
spared ; — no spirit of sacrifice being ap- 
parent. 

The requirements of individual places 
being so very varied, it is impossible 
to lay down any fixed rules on the sub- 
ject of church sites, but we may remark 
generally that unfavorable contrasts are 
to be avoided — such as the modest vil- 
lage spire, showing against the tower- 
ing height of a lofty hill ; the abrupt 
slope of which is, moreover, liable to 
attract the eye, and make the steejjle 
look askew. For such a situation, broad, 
low towers, and massive walls of rough 
stone, are most appropriate ; while on a 
flat plain, lightness and loftiness may be 
predominating characteristics ; as here the 
contrast is in our favor. Near the bot- 
tom of a gentle eminence is, perhaps, 
the most favorable position, and if its 
gray walls appear nestling beneath the 
drooping boughs of grand old trees, and 
the sound of its praise mingle with the 
murmur of some near- flowing rivulet, so 
much the better. Peaceful and harmon- 



82 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



ious surroundings lend an added cliarni 
to tlie building; and hill, stream, and 
trees may seem to join us in a Benedic- 
ite, blessing the Lord, praising and mag- 
nifying Him forever. 

Again, the church should have ample 
space to be set well back from the road, 
and be approached by a winding avenue. 
We would recommend that at least two 
acres be devoted to this purpose, exclu- 
sive of the space that the building itself 
occupies. The grounds should have a 
park-like effect, and be laid out in grass 
only. The rectory may occupy one j)or- 
tion, its garden and out-buildings being 
fenced off for greater privacy. On an- 
other portion, or perhaps attached to 
the church by an elongated sacristy, may 
be the Sunday School building ; which 
may be fitted up to serve the purposes 
of a chapel as Avell. 

Horse-sheds, one adjunct of a church, 
seem to be an unavoidable necessity in 
a country place, where many of the con- 
gregation come from a distance ; but there 
is surely no need of their being put up, 
as they generally are, in the ugliest, 
shabbiest way— a blot and eyesore to the 
neighborhood. We have endeavored in 



design I. to show these structures of a 
more becoming character. 

The surrounding grounds should be 
bounded by a low wall of stone, with 
an iron railing above of appropriate pat- 
tern, or, in a village, a fence of iron 
entirely answers every j^urpose. Gates 
may be of various design, generally of 
iron. One very j)icturesc|ue form of gate, 
specially appropriate where there is a 
grave-yard, is the lych-gate ; a specimen 
of which we give in design IX. Un- 
der its sloping roof the bier was an- 
ciently rested before entering the church- 
yard. 

We cannot too highly recommend the 
introduction of ivy upon the outer walls. 
We have few native evergreen ivies, but 
there are a number of deciduous ivies of 
rapid and luxuriant growth. The great 
difficulty with the English and Irish ivies 
is the extreme heat and cold of our cli- 
mate ; both of which conditions are un- 
favorable to their growth. With care, 
however, and in shaded situations, they 
may thrive very well, when once a vig- 
orous growth is attained; but they require 
in very dry weather to be constantly wa- 
tered at the roots. Ornamental shrubs 



ami evergreens may 1)e sparingly intro- 
(liu-ed among tlie larger trees on the 
grounds. 

AVe wonld ahvays recommend that at 
least one acre of the chnrch oTounds be 
reserved as a graveyard ; preferaljly on 
the east side, in the rear of the chancel. 
A country chnrch never appears quite 
complete to our eyes vrithout its accom- 
panying " God's acre," which itself seems 
hallowed by the proximity of the sacred 
edifice. When the east side is filled, the 
south may be similarly a2)j)roj)riated. By 
sanction of ancient usage, the north side 
is in England not thought desirable. 

We may here crave the indulgence of 
our readers for adding a few words re- 
specting appropriate forms and inscrij)tions 
for Christian monuments — a subject still 
but little understood; although the pres- 
ent generation has haj^j^ily become too 
well acquainted with the principles of 
true art to perpetrate such horrors and 
absurdities in the way of tombstones, as 
were the mode durino; the last two cen- 
turies. While we may feel tolerably cer- 
tain of encountering no more specimens 
of half-naked allegorical figures, heathen 
inverted torches, cinerary urns, with gilt 



flames issuing from the top, and skulls, 
cross-bones, and cherubs iu pleasing con- 
fusion, yet there remains great room for 
improvement. We may instance the ^^on- 
derous high tomb, standing like an altar 
on four or six legs ; the square pedestal 
and spacious railed enclosure, and the 
broken column overhung with some mys- 
terious drapery, apparently placed there 
to dry by an absent-minded laundress. 
Of far greater j)i'opriety and beauty is 
the simple head-stone in the form of a 
cross, or enclosing a cross "within a qua- 
tre-foil or circle, or the coped stone ex- 
tending the full length of the grave, and 
resembling in shape an antique coffin-lid. 
On its apex was carved a floriated cross, 
while the inscription ran around the 
edges. Another ancient form was the 
low, cofiin-shaped stone sarcophagus, stand- 
ing about two feet from the ground, 
known as a coped high tomb. 

To pass from the form to the inscrip- 
tion of a Christian tomb, we may ven- 
ture to remark that here there is also 
I'oom for improvement; and the substi- 
tution for hackneyed verse and vain-glor- 
ious eulogy on the departed, of some 
such simple, humble words of faith as 



84 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



were carved on the monuments and 
brasses of our ancestors: Orate pro ani- 
ma ; Cujus animw propicietur Deus. 
(Pray for the soul; on whose soul God 
have mercy.) It may be thought, how- 
ever, that there is a doctrinal objection 
to these, as they seem to point to a be- 
lief in the Romish doctrine of Purgatory 
— which it is the special aim of Angli- 
cans to avoid. Rather than these, we 
would suggest some such form as St. 
Paul's epitaph, written by himself, which 
is free from all taint of superstition : 
" To me, to live is Christ : to die is 
gain." Or that of St. Stephen, spoken in 
articido mortis : " Lord Jesus receive my 
spirit ! " Or, again, such a quotation from 
Holy Writ as, " I know that my Redeemer 
liveth ; " etc. " I am the resurrection and 
the life, saith the Lord ; " etc. 

But, instead of these, too often there 
meets the eye, following the name of the 
deceased, only a lengthy statement of his 
having possessed every virtue and been 
blessed with every talent; that he was for 
many years captain of the county militia 
or judge of the court ; and the only mark 
of Christianity on the whole tomb is the 
mention of his being born and having 



died in such years of our redemption. 
We need hardly instance the numerous 
cases in which coarse levity, and even pro- 
fanity, have disfigured the last resting- 
places of the dead. 

We have l:)ut hastily considered the sub- 
ject of the church's site and surroundings, 
but we hope to have indicated in some 
degree what these should properly be. 
What fond memories will not rise in the 
breast of even worldly old age, of the 
little weather-beaten village church of his 
youth ! albeit, some crazy timber Grecian 
temple, scarce worthy the name! There 
lie first heard words of wisdom and holi- 
ness, from the lips of the gray-haired pas- 
tor; there first bowed his knee in trem- 
bling humility before the altar of God. 
Beneath that mossy roof he stood, hand 
in hand, with his young bride, and 
plighted the faith he has kept so truly 
all these years; and in its green church- 
yard he has, perchance, laid his first-born 
and the parents of his affection. Who 
can say how much more fondly we shall 
look back, in years to come, on our vil- 
lage church, built and adorned in a man- 
ner fitting the worship of God, and its 
charm made more perfect by every lovely 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



85 



and liarmonioiis surrounding that a cul- 
tivated taste could desire. 

We have already suggested tliat tlie 
parsonage be included among the build- 
ino-s on the church srrounds, and in archi- 
tecture correspond with the church itself. 
Not that it need look like a copy in min- 
iature, l)ut the substantial stone walls and 
Gothic character of its exterior should 
harmonize and blend with the mass of 
l)uildina;s. A modification of the Tudor 
style particularly recommends itself for 
this class of residences^with its wide, 
mullioned windows and door openings, 
peaked gables, and irregular sky-line. Ve- 
randas, balconies, porches, and canoj)ies 
may be introduced with great propriety ; 
nor should the inside fail to correspond 
with the outside in the expression of 
those traits which should equally distin- 
guish the parsonage and the parson — 
Holiness, Humility, and Hosjoitality. 

The first of these good equalities should 
find utterance in solidity of construction. 
Since we deem our Mother Church to be 
for all time, so the houses of her minis- 
ters should be formed to last ; not flimsy 
structures, which look as if the next high 
wind might blow them away. It should 



be connected with the church by a clois- 
ter — a feature which Avould prove of great 
convenience to the pastor in inclement 
weather. Attached to the parsonage, it 
would 1)6 well to have an oratory or pri- 
vate chapel foi' family worship. It will 
add very greatly to the beauty of the plan, 
if this be allowed to apj^ear in the form 
of a projection from the house, facing east- 
ward. Its roof should be somewhat lofty, 
gabled, and surmounted by a cross. A 
Gothic stained glass east window may very 
properly be introduced, but if so, by all 
means let it show on the outside, and 
not be masked by an ordinary square- 
headed opening, filled with common panes. 
We think there is an objection to build- 
ing a chapel to a private residence, as, 
owing to the uncertain tenure of j)roper- 
ty in this country, the house is liable, on 
the demise of its owner, to be sold, per- 
haps, to a person having no sympathy 
with religion, who might desecrate it. But 
as the parsonage is to be forever dedi- 
cated to the use of the Church, this objec- 
tion does not apply. Then, as texts of 
Scripture are appropriate for the adorn- 
ment of the church, why may they not 
be applied, with equal j)i"opi'iety, to the 



86 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE, 



priest's house — botli carved upon its outer 
and illuminated ui3on its inner walls 1 

Humility sliould mark tlie parsonage in 
tlie due proportion of horizontal lines, 
given by means of bands or string-courses, 
and in its modest dimensions. A draw- 
ing-room, dining-room, study, seven bed- 
rooms, and the domestic offices, ought to 
be amjjle accommodation, exclusive of the 
oratory. ISTo superfluous ornament should 
be admitted, for even as in dress, the pas- 
tor and his family should be the last to 
ape the outward adornment of idle and 
extravao;aut fashions — choosing rather the 
" ornament of a meek and quiet spirit," — so 
the parsonage should 1)e marked by a cer- 
tain chastened and sober dignity of aspect. 

An expression of Hospitality is given 
by a spacious doorway, broad windows, 
and ample porch. The house should stand 
well revealed beneath sheltering trees, so 
that the poor, the stranger, and the afllict- 
ed may have no difficulty in distinguish- 
ing the pastor's home. Let no forbidding 
wall, lofty and iron-spiked, surround it, 
for the pastor is not to withdraw into 
monastic seclusion, but dwell in the midst 
of his flock — ever ready to lend a will- 
ing ear and extend a helping hand to all 



their perplexities and sorrows. Let the 
gabled and vine-clad porch be surmounted 
with a simple cross of stone, and within 
have ample stone seats on either side, in- 
viting the weary to rest. Surely, around 
such a dwelling a spirit of devout and 
chaste repose would linger, and mark it 
unmistakably as the home of a long line 
of honored miuistrants in the service of 
His holy altar. 

We would make especial mention of the 
study as the room devoted to the intel- 
lectual labors of the minister, and where 
he receives his parishioners for spiritual 
counsel and guidance ; and this we would 
have in every way expressive of its ob- 
jects and uses. We would recommend 
that the furniture should be unique, ar- 
tistic, and essentially Gothic in character; 
including bookcases and canopied chim- 
ney-piece in carved oak or walnut. An 
open wood-fire blazing on its hearth would 
seem expressive of warm-hearted benevo- 
lence, and the glowing dyes of a Turkey 
carpet or Persian rugs, laid upon a hard- 
wood floor, should lend the aid of rich 
color to beautify this apartment. We had 
intended designing a model interior for 
the rector's study, but are so much struck 



CHURCH ARCPHTECTURE. 



87 



w itli the appropriateness and beauty of a 
design hy an Englisli architect, that Ave 
feel we shall be doing him no injustice 
l)y incorporating it with our text. 

Thus let the "beauty of holiness," the 
grace of humility, and the vii'tue of hos- 



pitality, have thorough expression in the 
pastor's dwelling, and we douT)t not the 
gentle heart and Christian spirit of its oc- 
cupant will supply all that may be lack- 
ing in it, which senseless brick and stone 
can never give. 



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DESIGN V. 



This cliurcli was clesio-ued for one of 
those C[uiet little corners of New Eng- 
land, where woodland and stream, moun- 
tain and valley, combine to give a roman- 
tic and varied charm to the surrounding 
landscape. There already existed an an- 
cient church of more than usual j^ictu- 
resqueness, which had done service for up- 
wards of a century ; but this was now 
not only too small, l:)ut so utterly dilap- 
idated as to preclude the idea of repair. 
The building of a new church was then 
very naturally discussed; when it was de- 
cided that $6,000 was the utmost they 
could afford to spend ; and for this amount 
they wanted a stone church, with tran- 
septs, chancel, and spire, seating not less 
than three hundred persons ! We re- 
marked at the time that we thouo-ht it 
would be difficult to effect so much, at 
so small an outlay — still, we were pre- 
vailed upon to make the effort. 



Knowing that to carry out the plan pro- 
posed in the usual way, would exceed the 
amount three times over, we made it our 
study to economize in every way possible, 
without injury to the appearance or stabil- 
ity of the edifice. The first step was to 
arrange a ground plan seating the required 
number in the most economical manner, 
and then came the problem, how to ar- 
range the exterior. The transepts we 
found it impossible to run up in the ga- 
ble form, without an excess of cost be- 
yond the means, and a stone tower and 
spire were out of the question. The idea 
then occurred of treating the transepts as 
lean-tos, while a timber entrance porch, 
surmounted by a timber belfry, carried up 
to a sufficient height to warrant us in 
calling it a spire, took the place of the 
more expensive tower. Still, we were in 
doubt whether the church could be of 
stone at all, when some Avorthy parishion- 



94 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



ers came forward, and offered to give the 
stone ft'om tlieir quarry; also delivering 
it free upon the ground. But this was 
not all — a great deal of cut stone was 
required ; all the quoins, arches, string- 
courses, weatherings, and water-tables, were 
necessarily of this expensive material; and 
again the good people were brought to a 
stand-still, and feared they would have to 
resign theii' hojDes of a substantial stone 
edifice. At this point we proposed mak- 
ing a substitute of brick for cut stone ; 
but this their minds were hardly prepared 
for — unless the brick should be jDainted 



an agreeable color. We strongly object- 
ed; declaring that the contrast of the red 
brick and cold bluestone Avould be a very 
happy effect. To this our friends sug- 
gested roast beef^and zebra — and streaky 
l^acon; we stood firm, however. In the 
end, red brick carried the day, and the 
work was fairly started. The whole was 
completed in an economical, but very thor- 
ough manner, and we have, for the first 
time, understood that a church was built, 
the cost of which did not exceed the orig- 
inal estimate. We would mention, how- 
ever, that this was before the war. 



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AM PHorO-L/THOGRAPHIC Ca N.Y. (OSBORNCS PROCESS.} 



CHAPTER YII. 



ON ROOFS. 



I 



It is fi'eqiiently imagined that the art 
of constriictiou does not enter into strict- 
ly arcliitectural practice. This is supposed 
to fall within the province of the me- 
chanic or the engineer ; and some are even 
so io;norant as to think the builder takes 
precedence of the architect in practical 
matters ; the latter merely furnishing the 
design to suit a construction already 
worked out. It is obvious, however, on 
reflection, that it is as necessary for the 
architect to understand these principles 
in their highest development as for the 
sculptor or painter to be thoroughly ac- 
quainted with anatomy; — -in fact, construc- 
tion may be called the anatomy of archi- 
tecture — the very base upon which the art 
of design is founded ; and on the nature 
of the foundation must depend the excel- 
lence of the superstructure. 

There can be no doubt that the authors 
of the grand mediaeval works were thoi'- 



ough masters of the practical part of 
their calling, and Avi'ought out problems 
in l)uilding, which it would be difficult, 
if not impossible, to rival or imj^rove. 
Take, for instance, the groined and vaulted 
roof of a grand cathedral ; whose aerial 
poise on its slender columns is so per- 
fect. Every line and every voussoir is so 
exactly calculated to gather up the numer- 
ous thrusts, and transfer them to the col- 
umns below, that the mighty mass is 
poised in mid-air with a firmness which 
has withstood the test of centuries. 

In very early times, owing to the lim- 
ited knowledge of what could be done by 
nice calculation, these ceilings were suj)- 
ported by masonry of so heavy a char- 
acter, as to give the impression of clumsi- 
ness. The piers were of great thickness, — 
double the size of those used at a later 
period, — but as science advanced, and new 
problems were worked out l)y the aid of 



98 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



matliematics, liglitness and delicacy became 
marked cliaracteristics of Gothic architec- 
ture. The piers were made more slender, 
and the buttress was employed ; to which 
was transferred the lateral thrust of the 
roof In time the buttress was also re- 
duced to its minimum proportions, until 
it became fined away to an extent insuf- 
ficient to resist the numerous strains. As 
an offset to its thinness, greater height 
was given it ; and now the graceful finial 
towers against the sky, giving firmness 
to its otherwise inadequate foundation. 

In the same manner, the Gothic timber 
roofs are, in their own way, models of in- 
genious and deeply-calculated construction. 
These are as antagonistic to the low- 
pitched tie-beam roofs, in use previous 
to the thirteenth century, as was the lin- 
tel of the Greeks to the arch of Chris- 
tendom ; the roof taking an acute instead 
of an obtuse angle, and rejecting the tie- 
beam altoo-ether. 

To render clearer these remarks, Ave pro- 
pose briefly to describe the two kinds of 
roofs ; namely, those which cause merely 
a vertical j)ressure on the walls, and those 
which exert a lateral thrust. 

The form of the low-pitch or tie-heam 



roof consists of two principal rafters in- 
clined to each other and meetino- at the 
apex ; the lower ends, which rest upon 
a wooden sill, called the wall-plate^ being- 
tied together by a horizontal beam, to pre- 
vent their spreading ; which would other- 
wise have a tendency to thrust out the 
walls. As the weight of the tie-beam 
would cause it to sag w^ere it unsup- 
ported, especially in buildings of a wide 
sj^an, it is suspended from the ridge by 
means of a timber, called a Mng-post ; 
which, in its turn, is held up between 
the principal rafters. There are also di- 
agonal timljers, called struts, carried from 
the foot of the king-post to the centre 
of the principals to prevent their sag- 
ging from their own weight. The whole 
system is called a truss. Trusses of this 
class are adapted to a sjoan of from thirty 
to thirty-five feet. (See fig. 1.) 

For a larger roof than this, it is neces- 
sary to introduce further supports, and, 
accordingly, two shorter posts, named 
queen-posts, are placed, one on each side, 
at equal distances between the king-post 
and the lower ends of the rafters. In 
this case the principals do not meet at 
the apex, but terminate at the queen-posts, 



against wliicli they almt ; tlic latter l)e- 
iiig kept in position by a second timber, 
called a strahiuig or collur-heain ; Avliieli 
also abuts against tlie Leads of tlie queen- 
posts, and by tliis means they are sus- 
pended. There are also struts extending 
from the foot of the queen-posts to the 
rafters, which aid in supporting the lat- 
ter. (See fig. 2.) This roof has been con- 
structed to a span of fifty feet with per- 
fect success. The following are the scant- 
lings (or measurements) of the timbers 
employed : 

INCHES. 

A. Tie-beam, 57 feet long; the span 

of the walls being 51 feet, . .14x12 

B. Queen-posts, . . . . 9xi2 

C. Braces or struts, . . . .9x7 

D. Straining or collar-beam, . . 10 x 7 

E. Straining piece, . . .6x7 

F. Principal rafters,. . . , 10 x 7 

G. Camber beam for platform, . . 9x7 
H. Iron rod supporting tie-beam, . 2x2 

The latter takes the j)lace of a king- 
post. 

Where spans of still greater width are 
to be dealt with, the number of suspend- 
ing pieces is increased in proportion ; and 
instead of one queen-post, placed at each 
side of the centre, two are employed; giv- 



ing five suspenders instead of three. These 
trusses may be used for roots of sixty to 
eighty feet ; the niunl)er of supports in- 
creasing with the size. In the llidinir 
House of Moscow, which was two hun- 
dred and thirty-five feet sj)an, no less than 
eleven susj^enders were em2:>loyed. In 
roofs of such enormous size, however, it 
is doubtful whether the tie-beam truss is 
to be recommended ; as in the present 
instance, although a most extraordinary 
piece of engineering, its sj)an has proved 
too great to be sustained on this princi- 
ple. Such a building can more readily 
be roofed by means of arched trusses, 
formed of radiating binding-pieces, con- 
necting an upper and lower rib, and 
strengthened by diagonal framing. Trus- 
ses of this form may safely be used for 
almost any span, provided the abutments 
are secure. In practice they are chiefly 
employed for bridges ; an instance of 
which is that over the Schuylkill, at 
Fairmount ; its leno-th l;)eing three hun- 
dred and forty feet, witliout any suj^port, 
excej^t the end abutments. For low build- 
ings, however, such as riding schools and 
railway stations, such trusses ma}^ readily 
be introduced by extending the ends to 



100 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



tlie ground, wliere solid footings are ob- 
tained. 

Some admirable roofs, witli iron trusses 
of this descriiDtion, have been constructed 
in England ; one very fine sjDecimen being 
that over the St. Pancras railway station, 
designed by Mr. Geo. Gilbert Scott. Oc- 
cupying a site of nearly two acres, it is 
undoubtedly the finest terminus in the 
world. While it has the widest span of 
any roof in existence, the space beneath 
is unbroken by ties or braces, common to 
all others. Its style is subdued Gothic, 
with segments meeting at its crown. The 
roof springs from the platform level, the 
principal ribs each having the form of a 
four-centred arch, the radii of the Curves be- 
ing fifty-seven and one hundred and sixty 
feet respectively. The two central curves 
— those of one hundred and sixty feet 
radius — meet at an angle in the centre 
at a height of ninety-six feet above the 
platform level. The feet of the ribs are 
tied to the floor girders, and besides are 
each secured by four three-inch bolts to 
an anchor-plate built into the wall and 
strongly fastened. The transverse floor 
girders thus take the thrust of the roof. 

The length of the roof is six hundred 



and ninety feet, with a clear span of two 
hundred and forty feet, covering five plat- 
forms, ten lines of rail, and a cab-stand, 
twenty-five feet wide — thus making a to- 
tal area of one hundred and sixty-five 
thousand, six hundred square feet. Its 
height at the ridge is one hundred and 
twenty-five feet above the level of the 
road. 

There are twenty-five principal ril^s in 
the roof, each weighing about fifty tons. 
Between each of these, which are twenty- 
nine feet four inches apart from centre 
to centre, are three intermediate ribs car- 
ried })j trussed purlins, constructed so as 
to stiften the bottom flanges of the main 
ribs laterally. The station walls rise be- 
hind the spring of the principals, the space 
at the top being filled in with open iron 
work. The roof is glazed about seventy 
feet on each side of the centre, and the 
remainder is covered with slates on board- 
ing, one and three-eighth inches thick, 
grooved, tongued, and chamfered. Over 
nine thousand tons of iron have been em- 
ployed in this building, and as its supe- 
rior strength admits of its use in far more 
slender proportions than wood, this mate- 
rial may, in many cases, be employed to 



LATE II 





n<y. 



Fi&. 3 




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great advantage. As a rule, cast iron 
should l)e employed when the parts are 
in compression, and wrought iron when 
they are in tension. 

As we have before stated, the Gothic, 
or high-pitch roof, differs from the classic, 
as the arch differs from the lintel ; and 
was developed under the same influences 
and at the same time. 

The steep roofs of northern countries 
were a necessity, on account of the heavy 
falls of snow, causing a strain upon the 
timber ; while, in assuming this form, it 
became apj^arent that the lateral thrust 
was greatly diminished. A sim2:)le collar- 
beam, with the assistance of heavy walls 
or buttresses, was now found sufficient to 
sustain the roof in narrow spans, without 
the aid of that ungothic feature — the tie- 
beam. As the width increased, additional 
braces were introduced ; an example of 
this is shown in design IX., the motive 
of which is taken from Romsey Church, 
Hampshire, of thirteenth century date, 
and is a section of the roof shown on 
plate 23. (See interior.) The fact that 
the common rafters each assume the form 
of a truss, thus distributing the pressure 
equally along the walls, gives the imj)res- 



sion of offering entire resistance to hori- 
zontal pressure. And although we be- 
lieve that this is accomjjlished so far as 
practicable where the tie-beam is omitted, 
it is by no means free from cross strains, 
and without buttresses would have a ten- 
dency to press out the walls, did not the 
ridge act as a girder by resolving itself 
into a longitudinal truss, — the end of 
which is shown at A. B., fig. 3. This 
is framed in various ways; that at fig. 4 
being chiefly employed in short spans. 
Where the length is greater, the form of 
fig. 5 Avith a i^arabolic arch would be pre- 
ferable. By this method the rafters ^vill 
be kept nearly in the same plane, and 
all lateral thrust on the walls be re- 
moved ; for it is evident that if the 
ridge is supported, there can be no mo- 
tion downwards in the direction of the 
rafters, the whole roof being hung to 
this longitudinal frame, which is built at 
either end into the apex of the walls, to 
which the entire weight of the rafters is 
transferred. 

These trusses are necessary, however, 
only in case of the absence of buttresses. 

The buttress was not introduced, it 
may be noticed, j)revious to the twelfth 



104 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



centuiy; before that, wide sjoans were sup- 
j)oi'ted in a manner somewhat resembling 
the nave and aisles of a church, by three 
distinct arches, with wooden intersecting 
columns runnino; to the floor at each truss. 
Such an arrangement may be seen in the 
roof of the great hall of Nursted Court, 
Kent. 

The roof of the great hall at Hamj^- 
ton Court is very strong, and so secure- 
ly tied that were the curved struts to 
be removed entirely, there would be lit- 
tle danger of the principals thrusting out 
the walls ; and, on the other hand, from 
the weight of the roof being carried down 
a considerable distance below the hammer- 
beams by the wall-posts and curved struts, 
the walls themselves offer so much resist- 
ance to lateral thrusts, that there would 
be no injurious strain on them were the 
tension pieces (cui'ved ribs, forming a low 
arch below the straight collar-beam) to 
be removed. 

The construction of the hall roof of 
Elthani Palace, Kent — another famous ex- 
ample — differs again from that last de- 
scribed. The whole weio-ht is thrown 
on the to}) of the wall, and the lower 
pieces are merely placed there for orna- 



ment, as the tension pieces form a com- 
plete tie. 

This was discovered on the wall-j^late 
becoming rotten, when the weight being 
thrown on the pseudo- struts, they soon 
bent under the pressure, and forced out 
the upper portion of the walls. 

Perhaps the finest example now in ex- 
istence of this kind of roof, is that of 
"Westminster Hall (see plate 12), which 
was completed about 1398, during the 
reign of Richai'd II., under the supervi- 
sion of the I'enowned architect and states- 
man, William of Wykeham. The angle of 
this roof is formed on what country work- 
men still term common pitch ; the length 
of the rafters being about three fourths of 
the entii^e span. The cutting oft' of the 
girders, or tie-beams, reducing them to the 
size of hammer-beams, was compensated by 
arched ribs, forming one large arch, spring- 
ing from corbels of- stone, which project 
from the walls twenty-one feet above the 
floor, and the same distance below the 
base-line of the roof The ribs forming 
this arch are framed at their crown into 
a collar-beam, which connects the rafters 
in the middle of their leno'th, A smaller 
arch within this large one springs from 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



105 



tlie Iiaiiinier-l)eaiu, wliicli is level witli 
the 1)a8e-liiie of the roof, and is suj^- 
ported by two brackets issuing from the 
spring of the main arch. From the ex- 
tremity of the hammer-beams rise queen- 
posts, supporting the collar-beam, and this 
again by two queen-posts supports a sec- 
ond collar-beam and a central king-post. 
These trusses are placed at distances of 
eio-hteen feet alone; the roof, and abut 
against the solid parts of the walls be- 
tween the windows, which are strength- 
ened in those places by flying buttresses 
on the outside. 

It will be gathered from the foregoing 
remarks that the principal difference be- 
tween the tie-beam and pointed roofs is, 
that while the first acts on the princij^le 
of the lintel, the second corresponds to 
the arch in the nature of the support it 
aifords. Indeed, a stone arch was the in- 
termediate step between the tie-beam and 
the wooden arch construction. An instance 
of this is the roof of the great hall of 
Mote House, Ightham, Kent. A stone 
pointed arch is sprung from a corbel 
about two thirds the height of the wall, 
the spandrels being filled up solid with 
masonry to the apex, on which rests an 



ordinary collar-beam. Diagonal braces are 
extended from this longitudinally, to add 
to the ridge an intermediate suj^jjort. 
Herein is reversed the principle of the 
king-post. This timber in a Gothic roof 
acts as a supporter rather than a sus- 
pender, and, instead of being in a state 
of tension, is in compression. 

It is somewhat of a misnomer to use 
the term tie-beam at all, in connection 
with a Gothic roof. Let us imagine a 
stream bridged across by a single tim- 
ber; — that timber would neither draw 
the banks together, nor push them asun- 
der; it would be a load, consisting of 
its own weight, plus that of any object 
set upon it. This is precisely the action 
of beams in Gothic roofs. 

The beam was viewed as something 
to build upon, just as the stone arches 
were ; and that arches were deemed the 
proper support for roofs, we may infer 
from numerous old examples in wood. It 
was the fact of the beam being a foun- 
dation to build upon that led to its final 
disuse, except in the hammer-beam form. 
And to the desire to avoid the depress- 
ing eftect of this horizontal timber, we 
are indebted for the most truly artistic 



106 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



examples of carpentry ever displayed. It 
was as struts — to resist compression by 
an outer force, and not as braces to draw 
other timbers together or suspend tliem 
— that the several parts of the mediaeval 
roofs were applied. 

Still, though we may not be able to 
achieve the triumj)hs of former days, in 
nothing more than in modern open tim- 
ber roofs is shown our advance in es- 
thetic construction; particularly when we 
compare them with the lath and j^tlaster 
ceilings still to be seen in village churches. 
Nowhere more than in our large open sta- 
tion and hall roofs is the alliance between 
construction, material, and design so pal- 
pably manifest, because we get conjoint- 
ly the swnmum honum of material and 
esthetic excellence. The very timber and 
iron used in their construction perform 
a twofold office — they suj)port the cov- 
ering and minister to our sense of beauty. 



It is interesting to trace the stej)s of 
this roof transformation from the days 
when Pugin first earnestly advocated the 
abandonment of lath and plaster ceilings, 
followed by the second abandonment of 
that clumsy expedient — the tie-beam ; 
which, as the main support of the be- 
fore-mentioned lath and plaster, became 
no longer of j)rime necessity. From that 
time collars and braces, struts, curved 
and laminated ribs, have assumed cer- 
tain decorative as well as structural func- 
tions ; thus economizing space and utiliz- 
ing material. 

It may, indeed, be urged that an inner 
ceiling preserved a more equable tempera- 
ture, but by boarding the back of the 
rafters, thus allowing an air space to 
intervene, and the use of felting, the 
open roof possesses the same advantages, 
and has besides the merit of far better 
efiect. 



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DESIGN VI. 



This design, which is somewhat irregu- 
lar ill outline, is composed of nave and 
north aisle, and contains some four hun- 
dred and fifty sittings ; which may be 
increased another hundred by removing 
the screen which divides the church prop- 
er from the lecture or Sunday School 
room, in the manner described at page 
150. The sacristy and organ-chamber are 
contained in the ground floor of main 
tower, at the left of which there is an 
eastern entrance, which also serves as an 
entrance to the Sunday School. 

There are two towers in this design, 
the westernmost being the principal en- 
trance. It is isolated from the main struc- 
ture, being only connected therewith by 
an o|)en cloister. The effect of this is 
very pleasing — both nave and tower be- 
ing finished complete on all sides with- 
out interfering with each other's j)ropor- 
tions, while the bays of the cloister, hav- 
ing their openings filled with iron- work 
of mediaeval design, enable passers-by to 
look entirely through at the architectural 



effects beyond. Little surprises like this 
are exceedingly agreeable, and very much 
in the sj^irit of mediseval work ; which 
delighted in mystic effects and unex- 
pected developments. 

The introduction of iron columns in 
the present and other designs of this 
work, induces us to say a few words 
in defence of this material ; although by 
so doing we shall, of course, incur the 
censure of powerful writers, who declare 
that cast-iron is not architecture, and o])- 
pose its use for the very sajDient reason 
that it never has been used, and conse- 
quently should be forever excluded. But 
as at present applied, we consider that 
we are using it to advantage, for rea- 
sons stated in a previous article. It is 
indeed, wrong to use metal columns, cast 
and painted in imitation of stone ; but 
in this case the material is frankly ac- 
knowledged ; the capitals being formed of 
wrought leaves, and the whole bronzed, or 
otherwise decorated, to indicate its metal- 
lic nature. 



112 



CHUECH ARCHITECTURE. 



It is true tliat our sympathies turn in- 
stinctively from tlie force of early educa- 
tion and love for tlie noble works of the 
past, to the use of stone in buildings of 
a monumental character. For these, stone 
would seem the most aj^propriate material, 
as being most expressive of massiveness 
and durability, and as that with which na- 
ture herself has supplied us. " The very 
stones we see around us," is our natural 
reflection, "have been used to erect these 
cloud-capped towers, gorgeous pinnacles, 
and solemn temples which excite our ad- 
miration ; " while a building composed en- 
tirely of iron, impresses us at once with 
a sense of artificiality. The material is 
manufactured ; the broad play of light 
and shadow upon massive pier and lofty 
arch, the magic effects of chiaroscuro are 
all lost ; and in their stead we have only 
thin metallic shafts, roofed with a web 



of sj)ider-like framing ; offering, indeed, 
the advantage of economy of space and 
expense, but greatly wanting in artistic 
effect; at least as at present constructed. 
Many subordinate parts of buildings have, 
however, been rendered in iron in the 
most exquisite manner. The roof of the 
new museum at Oxford, in particular, is 
a triumph of art in metal work; while 
some modern screen work is fully equal 
to the best ancient examples. We have 
only to go on enlarging and improving 
in this field to attain just what is needed. 
The transept in this design is not as 
available as some others, on account of its 
being placed one bay westward, which ex- 
cludes the view of the pulpit from many 
of the sittings. As an excuse for this, we 
would state that the Sunday school was 
originally intended for a separate room; 
the movable screen being an after-thought. 






Plate I+. 



D e:5ign 6 







^Ij^ujaixjon * 



,«« PHOrO-UTMOSHAPH/C CO NY I OSBORHCS PROCCSS I 



I 



CHAPTER YIII. 



CHURCH ORGANS AND MUSIC. 



Of all musical instruments, surely the 
most grand and soul-moving is the organ ; 
the stately volume of whose voice, as it 
rolls through the vaulted expanse of some 
vast cathedral, thrills us with mingled awe 
and admiration. 

The tuneful violin, or softly breathing 
flute, may more fitly express sentiment 
and feeling, but the j)ealing organ best 
accompanies our voices when raised to 
sing praises unto God, and "heartily re- 
joice in the strength of our salvation." 

Ancient legends ascribe the invention 
of the organ to St. Cecilia, who lived 
in the reign of Alexander Severus, and 
is known as the patron saint of music. 
Instruments called organs are mentioned 
in the old Testament (see Genesis, iv. ; 
Job, xxi.) ; although what their shape or 
mode of use might have been we are not 
informed. Prol^ably the first organs were 
neither more nor less than the Pan's 



pipes, or mouth-organs, familiar to small 
boys at the present day ; while some 
writers have conjectured that they were 

According to Rimbault, rude organs 
were in use before the Christian era, in 
which both bellows and stops were em- 
ployed, and Vitruvius tells us of a hy- 
draulic organ — his description of which, 
however, is rather too vague to give us 
a clear idea of its form or working. This 
much is certain, that the hydraulicon was 
provided with pipes, sound-chest and re- 
gister, like organs in the present day, the 
water serving to give the sound by means 
of counter-pressure, equality, and j)ower. 

Some of our readers may, jjerhaps, have 
been favored, during a sail up the Hud- 
son, mth a series of dismal sounds, sujj- 
posed to represent popular airs, and pro- 
duced by a musical instrument, ycleped 
the "steam calliope," which they were in- 



116 



CHURCH ARCHITECTUBE. 



formed Avas a new and remarkable inven- 
tion in the organ line. The first steam 
organ, however, was invented, according 
to Don Bedos, a Benedictine monk, by 
Pope Silvester II., in the year 1003 ; and 
we only hope in mercy to the ears of the 
hearers that better music was the result 
than the distressing performances of the 
steam calliope. 

Organs were first used in churches, Pla- 
tina informs us, by Pojje Vitalianus I., A. 
D. Q66; but, according to Julianus, a 
Spanish bishop, who flourished about A. 
D. 450, they were commonly employed 
in the churches of Spain at least two 
hundred years previous. The instrument 
was not known in France until the year 
757, when the Emperor Constantine pre- 
sented one to King Pepin, the father 
of Charlemagne. About the same period 
they were introduced into England ; as 
we read of some being manufactured by 
St. Dunstan, archbishop and blacksmith ; 
but it was not until the close of the 
tenth century that organs of any magni- 
tude are sj)oken of. At about that pe- 
riod, a great organ was erected in Win- 
chester cathedral, by order of Bishop El- 
phege; which is described in a Latin 



poem by the monk Wulston. We give 
below a few lines translated from this 
poem : 

" Twelve pair of bellows, ranged in stated row, 
Are joined above, and fourteen more below ; 
These the full force of seventy men require, 
Who ceaseless toil and plenteously perspire ; 
Each aiding each, till all the wind be prest, 
In the close confines of th' incumbent chest, 
On which four hundred pipes in order rise 
To bellow forth the blast that chest supjjlies." 

The first organs made had only eight 
or ten pipes ; before playing on which 
the organist was obliged to close the top 
of every pijDe with his fingers, otherwise 
all would sound at once. The reservoir 
was then supplied with wind, and the 
pipes permitted to speak by raising the 
finger from the orifice at the tojD. As 
the number of pipes was increased, this 
primitive method became im2:)ossible, and 
valves were introduced. The great diffi- 
culty, however, lay in the supply of wind 
from the bellows — which, unless subjected 
to a uniform pressure, would cause the 
pipes to blow flat or sharp, and turn 
the " concord of sweet sounds " to discord. 

This arose from the bellows being 
worked by man or boy-power; for when 
the blower conceived it necessary to take 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



17 



a vacation, lie would, ])ei'haps, be succeed- 
ed 1)V a substitute several stone lio'liter 
or heavier than himself, who -woidd thro^v 
the whole scale out of tune. The livino; 
weight was at last dispensed ^vith, and 
blocks of stone substituted ; which were 
again replaced l)y the metal bars still in 



use, 



It was not until the eleventh century 
that the key-board was invented, when 
we hear of one attached to the cathe- 
dral organ at Magdeburg, having sixteen 
keys, each an ell long, and three inches 
broad. These clumsy keys required to be 
struck do\^Ti with the clenched fist, one 
at a time ; and it was not until the four- 
teenth century that the monks, who, of 
course, were the organ-builders as well as 
architects, painters, and sculptors of those 
days, reduced their size to that of mod- 
ern times, and extended the compass of 
the instrument to three octaves. 

At this stage our ancestors seem to 
have rested contentedly for many years, as 
far as we have any account, though this 
does not seem in accordance with a spirit 
which aspired after excellence as heartily 
as that of the religious workers of med- 
iseval ages. Perhaps, however, the grand, 



yet simple chants and anthems of Tallis, 
Farrant, and Rodgers, required but a few 
sustained notes as their accompaniment, 
though modern taste seems to demand 
that their compositions shall be set oif 
by a running fire of elaborate harmonies 
on the organist's j)art. Certain it is that 
we do not hear of such fanciful stops as 
the carillon or chime of bells, kettle- 
drum or trumpet, being introduced until 
the seventeenth and early part of the 
eighteenth centuries. 

It was at this period of the renaissance 
taste for grotesque and rococo ornament, 
when the glories of Gothic architecture 
had ap23arently departed forever, that or- 
gan cases began to be decorated with all 
manner of extraordinary and incongruous 
designs. Imagine the organ at Westmins- 
ter Abbey, or our own Trinity Church, 
beplastered with carved and painted cher- 
ub's heads, vases and garlands of flowers, 
figures of animals and birds ! Or an or- 
chestra of gilded angels, blowing trum- 
pets. King David playing on his harp, 
and the whole "conducted" by a gigan- 
tic figui'e flourishing a hdton ! Then, to 
ward off meddlesome folk, who will be 
eternally prying and poking where they 



118 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



liave no business, we must liave one stop, 
conspicuous among tlie others, which they 
will be sure to pull, when, presto ! a fox's 
brush will fly in their faces. Such were 
the tasteless, and, we might almost say, 
profane, ideas of that age concerning orna- 
ments befitting the Church of God. 

From 1644 to 1660, the time of the 
Cromwellian usurpation, organs were, of 
course, abolished in England, as the Pu- 
ritans regarded them as a Popish, and, 
indeed, hellish invention, and gave them 
the contemptuous name of "the devil's 
box of whistles." What appreciation, in- 
deed, for a superb oi'gan voluntary could 
be felt by men whose favorite style of 
music much resembled that described in 
Hogarth's satirical lines : 

" So swells each windpipe, ass intunes to ass, 
Harmonious twang of leather, horn, and brass ; 
While from the lab'ring lungs th' enthusiast blows 
High sound, attempered to the vocal nose ! " 

Some idea of the devastation committed 
by the Puritans upon organs may be 
gathered by an extract from ^'•Merciwius 
JRusticus : tlie Country's Com/plaint^ JRe- 
cotuiting the Sad Events of tliis TInjpar- 
alleled War;'' published A.D. 1647. At 
"Westminster, we are told, "the soldiers 



were quartered in the abbey, where they 
brake down the organ and pawned the 
pipes at ale-houses for pots of ale. At 
Exeter Cathedral they brake down the 
organ, and, taking two or three hundred 
pipes with them, went up and down the 
streets piping with them, and, meeting 
some of the choristers, whose surplices 
they had already stolen, they scofiingly 
told them, ' Boys, we have spoiled your 
trade — you must go and sing hot pud- 
ding-pies.' " 

And another writer. Bishop Hall, in 
his work entitled '■'■Hard Measure " ,• Lon- 
don, 1547, says, speaking of the de- 
struction wrouo;ht in Norwich Cathedral : 
" Lord, what work was here ! what clat- 
tering of glass- — what beating down of 
walls — what tearing up of monuments — 
what demolishino^ of curious stone-work 
— what tooting and piping on the de- 
stroyed organ-pipes ! What a hideous tri- 
umph on the market day, when, in a 
kind of sacrilegious procession, all the 
organ-pipes, vestments, service-books, and 
altar-fittings were carried to the fire in 
the public market-place, a lewd wretch 
walking before the train, wearing a cope 
which trailed in the dirt, with a service- 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



11) 



hook in his liaud, imitating tlie tune and 
-words (»t" tlie Litany. On arriving at the 
fire, the organ-pipes, service-books, sur- 
plices, and sacred vestments were commit- 
ted to the flames." 

So complete was the destruction of fine 
instruments, that, after the restoration, it 
was with great difiiculty that a few of 
them were replaced at short notice, and 
it was nearly fifty years before they once 
more becauie common in churches. That 
amusing old gossip, Sam Pej^ys, in his 
diary for the year 1667, mentions going 
to Hackney Church with the double pur- 
pose of seeing the pretty girls and hear- 
ing the organ — which was then a great 
novelty, and he considers "mighty pretty." 
At Whitehall Chapel, he hears, for the 
first time, a vested choir of men and 
boys, who chanted the Psalms and re- 
sponses in the Litany ; though whether 
the excellent old gentleman thought this 
an improvement on a lanky-haired indi- 
vidual "deaconing out" the Psalms in me- 
tre, two lines at a time, and with the 
aid of a joitch-pipe starting the tune, in 
a melodious bray, straight through his 
nose, he does not say. Doubtless, how- 
ever, worthy Master Pepys had an appre- 



ciative taste, l)oth for i)retty girls and 
fine Church music. 

There have been many superb organs 
constructed in modern times, far surpass- 
ing anything that our ancestors dreamed 
of. The famous Haarlem organ was once 
conceded to be the finest in the world; 
but the place of honor must undoul:)tedly 
be given at present to the great organ 
in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, built by 
Messrs. Willis, of London, in 1853. This 
magnificent instrument has four banks, or 
manuals of keys, one hundred and eight 
stops, and eight thousand pipes. Wind 
is supplied by two immense j)air of bel- 
lows, worked by a steam engine. Of 
course, everything in the way of varied 
tone is introduced, such as the flute, trum- 
pet, carillon, hautboy, tuba-mirabilis, and 
the exquisite vox liumana. 

It might be thought that the enterpris- 
ing metropolis of New York would have 
done something extensive in the way of 
organs, l:)ut here we must gracefully take 
a back seat for the present, and acknowl- 
edge that Boston, the compact little " Hub 
of the Universe," has taken the lead. 
The great Boston organ, imported from 
Germany, in 1863, at a cost of $60,000, 



120 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



and about wliicli sucli wonderful poems 
were written and general glorification in- 
dulged, is really to be ranked among tlie 
largest in the world, having four manu- 
als, ninety-six sto23s, and five thousand 
four hundred and seventy-four pipes. Like 
that at Liverpool, the bellows are worked 
by steam ; and the modern Athenians may 
be excused for a natural feeling of pride 
in possessing the finest organ in this coun- 
try. 

It may well be imagined that to be a 
fine performer on so vast and complicated 
an instrument, must require the study and 
practice of years; and the somewhat ridic- 
ulous figure which the organist occasion- 
ally cuts, rolling about in his seat like 
a three-master in a high gale, is no laugh- 
ing matter to a man who has to manage 
what may really be called four things at 
once — the pedal, swell, grand, and choir 
movements — with all their stops, and fall 
in harmoniously with the capriccios and 
trills of a "fancy" quartette choir (most 
quartettes are "fancy," and the leading 
members usually end by taking to the 
stage). 

And this brings us to a matter which 
it may not be considered an architect's 



province to touch upon, but which, never- 
theless, must have struck every lover of 
true Chui'ch music: Why on earth should 
not the quartette choir, with its oj>era 
airs and sentimental love songs, adapted 
to chants and hpnns, be totally abolished 
in favor of a vested choir, and correct 
Anglican and Gregorian music? That 
dreadful bogy. Popery, will not be evoked 
from the depths by such a change, for 
the real truth is that it is by maintain- 
ing the quartette system that our Protes- 
tant alarmists are really imitating the prac- 
tice of Rome in full perfection. It may 
be classed among " things not generally 
knoAvn," that western organ-lofts and quar- 
tette choirs took their origin in the fif- 
teenth century, the most debased period 
of religion, at the gay city of Naples. 
The frequenters of fashionable churches 
found the sober and dignified praise of 
God not to their taste, and insisted on 
having prima-donnas engaged, and light 
opera airs introduced. But as the clergy 
could not admit of women appearing in 
the chancel, the expedient was hit upon 
of a singing-loft placed at the west end, 
and so arranged as to screen the singers 
from view ; a system preserved in our 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



121 



Protestant cliuivlies in the ])ivseiit day. 
A troupe of performers, hired merely in 
virtue of tlieir voices, and with not tlie 
slightest feeling for the sacred words they 
torture to make them fit opera music, is 
perched in a lumbering gallery, and too 
frequently ]3ass the time, when their ef- 
forts are uncalled for, in a scandalously 
irreverent manner. No authority is recog- 
nized by them but that of the organist ; 
who, in turn, frequently scoffs at any at- 
tempt on the part of the rector to carry 
out what the Prayer Book declares to be 
his duty, %'iz. : " To suppress all light and 
unseemly music, and all indecency and 
irreverence in the performance, by which 
vain and ungodly persons j^rofane the ser- 
vice of the sanctuary." More than once 
has the answer been given to such an at- 
tempt at regulation : " Mr. , if you 

will attend to your end of the church, I 
will take care of miner 

Although this state of things also pre- 
vails in modern Romanist churches, that 
is surely no argument for its perpetua- 
tion by a Reformed Protestant body. We 
are glad to see that in those churches 
where a true spirit of Catholic Christian- 
ity prevails, vested choii's, seated as they 



should be in front of the chancel, have 
replaced the odious organ-lofts, and all 
connected with them. The organ has also 
been removed to its proper position on 
the north side of the choir ; while Angli- 
can and Greo-orian chants have driven out 
" La Grande Duchesse," and " When the 
Swallows Homeward Fly." At the same 
time the choristers, under the immediate 
observation of the clergy, are compelled 
to maintain a reverent demeanor. Indeed, 
it properly belongs to the deacon and 
subdeacon to instruct in their relio-ious 
duties these boys, who, under proper in- 
fluence and training, are thus growing 
up in a school which will ultimately 
fit them to enter upon the study of the 
ministry. 

A capital set of illustrations has lately 
been published in England, on the " De- 
formation " and " Reformation " of various 
Church matters ; among the rest, the old 
and new style of choir are most spir- 
itedly delineated. We copy these two 
cuts for the benefit of our American read- 
ers, together with two, in a succeeding 
chapter, on the subject of pews. (See 
plates 15 and 18.) 

It now i-emains to notice the organ- 



122 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



chamber, in wticli tlie instrument is usu- 
ally enclosed. This should be situated 
in the chancel aisle, with the exception 
that the roof should be carried up to a 
ridge, instead of a lean-to. The most 
usual fault in an organ-chamber is its 
insufficient height and size. Twenty feet 
to collar-beam is the minimum height to 
accommodate a moderate sized organ. The 
advantage of having a spacious organ- 
chamber is twofold : first, that we thus 
obtain a space which may be used as 
a sacristy ; and, secondly, in event of 
a future enlargement of the organ, am- 
ple room is thus afforded. This will 
also obviate the mufiled sound that 
the pipes are apt to have when too 
much crowded, and, to facilitate still far- 
ther the diffusion of its strains, large 
and lofty arches should form the open- 
ings from the chamber into both nave 
and chancel. 

In regard to organ cases, we consider 
them quite unnecessary, except in the 
form of a plain panelling on the sides 
and rear, for the sake of protection. The 
outer pipes can themselves be symmetri- 
cally arranged and decorated in polychrome, 
so as to produce a highly ornamental front 



within the archways. The chaml^er should, 
however, be ceiled, not with lath and 
plaster, which again deaden the sound, 
but with thin boards, running in one 
length from top to bottom, without any 
nailing in the centre. There should be 
an interval between this and the wall- 
ing; which arrangement will be found to 
ensure a vibrating effect, much on the 
principle of a violin body. 

There is one other point to be noticed, 
that of securing a really good and relia- 
ble instrument, when it is desired to do 
so at a moderate cost. Much competi- 
tion, and an unfortunate habit of build- 
ing committees, in running about to get 
the greatest number of stops at the least 
expense, has led to the manufacture of 
cheap instruments, with a formidable ar- 
ray of registers, most of which are mere 
"glittering generalities," giving promise 
of grand effects which they do not real- 
ize. The better plan is to consult some 
competent organist, and let liim draw 
up a specification ; limiting the same, of 
course, to the amount of funds. No mat- 
ter how moderate the sum, these essen- 
tials should be insisted on : first, every 
stop should act down to the lowest key 



: 



oil the mauiial, otherwise tlie Avords 
" diilciana," " diapason," etc., are a lie 
and a sham ; second, the pedal-looard 
should be so placed that its middle C 
will tall with mathematical accuracy un- 
der the middle C on the manuals. For 
lack of some settled rule of this kind, 
as to the position of the pedals and 
keys, and the uniform arrangement of 
stops, the unhappy organist, seated, for 
the first time, before a new instrument, 
is driven half mad to determine the lo- 
cality of either; all the while being 
obliged to keep on playing, and making 



some very stupid and unscrupulous mod- 
ulations as the natural result. 

A fair compass is two octaves and a 
third ; ranging from C C C up to tenor 
E. If these suggestions are followed, the 
result will be to lay the foundation of 
a j)erfect organ, even if we have but 
half a dozen stops. 

We are largely indebted, in the fore- 
going chapter, to Dr. Henry Stephen Cut- 
ler, the eminent authority on Church mu- 
sic and organs, who has kindly permit- 
ted us to make some extracts from his 
essay on this subject. 



DESIGN VII 



The accompanying design is intendecl 
for a fi]"st-class 259'i'isli clinrch, altliougli 
not of the largest dimensions, contain- 
ing some six hundred sittings. There 
are two vestibules at the west end, that 
on the north side, formed by the porch 
shown on elevation, and the other, on 
the south, being the ground floor of tower. 
This being unobstructed by stairs, which 
are carried up in an external turret, is of 
spacious dimensions. 

The chancel is apsidal, and rather larger 
than usual, being upward of thirty feet 
deep. The sacristy, which also serves as 
an organ chamber, has an entrance on the 
north side, which, likewise, acts as an en- 
trance to the church. The sacristy is sup- 
plemented by a spacious dressing-room, 
and there is also one for ladies at the 
east side of the south transept, the pas- 
sage to which is rendered private, by 
means of a light ornamental screen. 

A conspicuous feature in the design is 
the apsidal baptistery, which is worked 
into the angle formed by projection of 



south transept. These transepts extend 
some ten feet, giving about sixteen ad- 
ditional pews, or ninety sittings, which 
have the advantage of being nearest the 
chancel, and, consequently, in the most 
valuable part of the church. Herein is a 
practical argument in favor of the cruci- 
form plan, indej^endent of its symbolism ; 
while externally the bold and varied out- 
lines of these numerous projections, tran- 
septs, baptistery, porch, staircase, tower, 
etc., combine to give that " architectur- 
esque " eifect, to borrow a word from 
Professor Kerr, so characteristic of true 
Gothic. 

It will be observed that stone crosses 
are abandoned in favor of iron, for the 
exterior. The latter are not only less ex- 
pensive, but, we think, very beautiful, 
every minute detail being shown with 
exquisite distinctness against the sky. 
There is an ornamental iron cresting over 
the roof of chancel, which is not contin- 
ued along the entire ridge, for the rea- 
son that there would then be no exter- 



PL^Te 16. 



Design "7 



t t 



SACK 



ISTY. 



i> 



JNORTK TRANSCP- 



NO RT H 
PO RC H . 



m. 

■ 

m. 



\jy ■ DR.CESV> ROO 



< = 

•- 

ft. 

*. 

• 



SOUTH TRANSEPT. 



B APTi; 



TOWER . 




-Gfl^OUr^D J^lrHJt 



AM. f'HOTO-LITHOSI>A''mC CO. n r- I OSBORHei PKOCCSS I 



iial (.li\ isioii of this part tVoni the nave; 
tor, as \ve have Ijetbre luentioiied, eveiy 
])0ssi1)k' (listiiK'tiou and honor sliouhl be 
paitl to the sanctuary over the more or- 
dinary i)()rtious of the edifice. 

Tlie alleys of a church, often erroneous- 
ly designated the aisles, should be of am- 
l)le Avidth ; never less than three feet, 
" and from that up to six or eight, the 
excess, of course, being in the centre. 
^^Hien over six feet, they may be util- 
ized by placing small movable forms 
through the middle, thus furnishing a 
number of free sittings. Cross alleys, 
however, arising from the side-entrance 
porch being placed at some distance from 
the west end, should always be avoided, 
as they have a tendency to divide too 
strongly the end pews from those farther 
up, and by suggesting an unpleasant so- 
cial distinction depreciate their value in 
a marked degree. 

In arranging the bays of a church, it 
is important to have a column strike the 
back of a pew in every case ; to effect 
which the bays should contain a multi- 
ple of the width of the pews. For ex- 
amj)le : if the pews are two feet ten 
inches wide, and the columns fourteen 



feet two inches from centres, the inter- 
space Avill contain exactly five pews ; if 
wider than this l)e preferred, one pew 
more must be added — making the bays 
seventeen feet. Should this rule not l)e 
carefully adhered to, the entrances to some 
of the jjeAvs will naturally be obstructed, 
great inconvenience, of course, being the 
result. 

The vexed question of columns has long 
been a subject of controversy. In med- 
iaeval times, when the nave was the part 
where people most did congregate, and 
the aisles north and south were used 
principally for processional ceremonies, the 
obstruction of columns was a thing of lit- 
tle moment. English Gothic in particular, 
which delighted in intricacy and small- 
ness of parts, multiplied columns. Con- 
tinental Gothic eschewed them, and aimed 
at breadth of effect. Thus in Ely and 
Lichfield cathedrals we find the columns 
not over seventeen feet apart, while Ant- 
werp Cathedral has l)ays of twenty-nine 
feet, and Breslau thirty. But the Span- 
ish churches show examples of still greater 
magnitude. San Salvador, Avila, has bays 
of thirty-four feet ; Siguenza Cathedral, 
thirty-nine feet ; and San Maria del Mar, 



130 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



at Barcelona, has its nave piers no less 
tlian forty-five feet from centre to centre. 
Three bays, therefore, in this Spanish 
church are equal to eight English ones. 
In Italy, the cathedral at Florence goes 
even beyond this ; its bays having the 
enormous sjDan of sixty feet. 

It is, of course, an advantage, as far as 
the conoTeo:ation is concerned, to have 
wide bays, and as few columns as possi- 
ble ; but, on the other hand, there are 
three special difficulties in the way. In 
the first place, the wider the arches, the 
greater their rise, and, consequently, the 
higher must be the entire structure ; sec- 
ondly, greatly enlarging the bays tends 
to lessen the apparent size of the build- 
ing, or technically to destroy its scale; 
finally, the vast unbroken spaces have a 
straggling, bald, uninteresting eftect, un- 
less minor arcades, double-aisle compart- 
ments, and groups of windows, be intro- 
duced to break the lines, and aid the eye 
in realizing how vast the main arches are. 

We thus see that the great difficulty 
in regard to numerous columns is the 
obstruction of the view, and, on the other 



hand, by using fewer of them, we gain 
relief only to incur the objections before 
enumerated. We think the way to solve 
the problem is not to increase the spaces, 
but to make the columns themselves 
smaller ; and in these days, when cast- 
iron — a material but little known in med- 
iaeval times — seems to meet the difficulty, 
by giving in a column of ten inches di- 
ameter the same strength contained in 
several feet of stone, we believe the de- 
mand for such a reduction will warrant 
their employment. 

It will, likewise, greatly facilitate the 
view of the pulj^it, to range its centre 
directly with the line of columns, as in 
the present instance. In fact, although 
there are a number of columns, really 
not more than one can obstruct the view. 
On the contrary, should the pulpit be 
moved a foot beyond this centre, no less 
than two feet of its totality will be hid- 
den from the opposite side ; and as the 
pulpit has but two feet six inches interior 
diameter, it need be but fifteen inches out 
of centre to be entirely hidden from many 
j)arts of the church. 



Plate: 17, 



DeisiginI 7. 




P'€:i^s:i?<rcTivc view. 



FHOTO-llTMOC/fA.'^MI': CO /^. f. t OSBORNE S J'ffOCE35 



CHAPTER IX. 



CHURCH FITTINGS. 



The lofty walls of tlie cathedral or un- 
pretending nave of the village church be- 
ing completed, consideration must next be 
paid to those internal fittings required by 
our services. This is not the unimpor- 
tant matter it may appear to those minds 
whose ideas of appropriate church furni- 
ture would be as well met by a mahog- 
any marble-top table, a lumbering desk, 
and two or three drawing-room ann-chairs, 
as by the lofty reredos, the gorgeously- 
vested altar, and all the "glorious ap- 
parel " with which a revived Church has 
decked herself to meet her coming Bride- 
groom. 

Inasmuch as it is in the chancel that 
the most Holy Sacrament is offered uj:), 
it is here that the altar is erected ; its 
place unmistakably marked by the dais 
on which it stands, and by the dossel or 
reredos — which is a lofty screen of wood 
or marble, placed, as its name implies. 



behind the altar, and richly or simply 
decorated, according to the means at our 
disposal. It is either canopied at top, or 
terminates in mounting pinnacles, enriched 
with crockets. On the reredos may be 
painted or carved sacred symbols, and 
scenes from the Passion of our Lord ; 
or it may be merely decorated in diaper, 
enriched by monograms of the Saviour, 
or inscrilied with appropriate sentences, 
such as, " I am the true vine ; " "I am 
the bread of life ; " this is not, however, 
the proj)er situation for the Tables of 
Commandments, which should be placed 
against the northern wall of the church. 

Surmounting the altar may be a nar- 
row shelf, called variously the rotable, 
super-altar, or altar-gradine. When this 
is introduced, it holds the altar-cross, al- 
tar-lights, and flower-vases ; but if we are 
to be guided by the late English deci- 
sions in the Court of Arches, by which 



134 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



the liglits were declared illegal, the super- 
altar may very well be dispensed with, 
and an illuminated cross occuj^y the cen- 
tral 23anel of the reredos. 

It was anciently the rule to construct 
altars of stone ; or else with a slab of 
stone let into the centre, called the men- 
sa. On the latter was carved five crosses, 
to signify the five wounds received by 
the Saviour at His crucifixion. The stone 
altar ^vas made illegal in Elizabeth's reign, 
but it is equally projjer to carve the five 
crosses on the wooden top of the holy 
table. 

We would advise the reading-desk or 
lectern to be placed at the southwest 
corner of the chancel, convenient to the 
prayer-desk. The proper place for the 
Litany-desk is at the east end of the 
nave, facing the entrance of the choir. 
Both should be pro23erly vested in col- 
ors appropriate to the various seasons. 

The credence table, or prothesis (for 
holding the sacred vessels, alms-bowl, etc.), 
should be fixed against the north wall 
of the chancel, and the piscina (for re- 
ceiving the ablutions) on the south. Near 
the piscina is situated the aumbry, a 
cupboard for holding the sacred vessels 



when not in use, taken out of the thick- 
ness of the wall, and secured by an oaken 
door, having floriated iron hinges. Ad- 
jacent to the piscina are the sedilia or 
seats for the clergy. These vary in num- 
l^er from two to five ; usually three are 
employed, raised one above the other, ac- 
cording to the rank of those who are to 
occupy them. The sedilia are sometimes 
of wood, and sometimes niched into the 
thickness of the stone wall. They may 
be canopied or otherwise. The two high- 
backed arm-chairs which in most churches 
stand at the north and south ends of the 
altar, against the east wall, are wholly 
inadmissible. Neither do we know of 
any authority for a so-called " bishop's 
chair." Strictly speaking, a chair is only 
temporarily placed for him at Ordinations 
and Confirmations, in order that the can- 
didates may be brought up one by one, 
and kneel before him ; but this is placed 
in front of the altar, not at the end, and 
is simply a faldstool or folding chair ; 
and not a monstrous erection of oak or 
black walnut, decorated with all the in- 
signia of mitre, cross-keys, and crosier. 
The Bishop's chair jy«r excellence is his 
throne in his own cathedral. 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



135 



Till' seats for tlie c-lioir may Ix' simple, 
opeu stalls, with " popp3*-liead " ends, or 
enrielied ^vItll elaltorately carved canopies, 
and the ends (^f tlie music slielf carried 
n]) very high, ami also liclily decorated. 

The sanctuary rail should he very lio-ht 
and open in character; and when of 
ANTought metal, gilt and colored, has a 
very pleasing effect. 

The proper lights for the chancel, ex- 
clusive of the symbolic altardights, are 
the large, many-branched candelabra, or 
standards of wrought metal, which have 
lately been introduced in our churches, 
and the " corona," or crown chandelier. 
These have nothing symbolic about them, 
being intended merely for purposes of il- 
lumination. We cannot forbear protest- 
ing in this place against the use in the 
chancel of standards of imitation candles 
of porcelain, lighted by gas ; an untruth- 
ful and unchurchly practice, to say noth- 
ing of the blinding glare so trying and 
hurtful to the eyes. There is the same 
esthetic reason for the avoidance of porce- 
lain candles as for the exclusion of arti- 
ficial flowers. Both are shams and j^re- 
tences of being what they are not, and 
nothing untruthful, as we have so often 



urged, shoukl l)e admitted in the service 
of the sanctuary. 

Finally, the roo'd-screen of carved wood 
or wrought metal-'woi'lv, filling up the lo^\■er 
half of the chancel arch, and surmounted 
b}' the cross, seems fittingly to shield the 
abiding 2)lace of God from profane or care- 
less approach ; Avhile the central gate, or 
holy door, may, perhaps, be taken as an 
emblem of that sti-ait and narrow s:ate 
by which alone we attain eternal life. 

In consideration, however, of the j)reju- 
dice against rood-screens, as well as the 
fact of their being sipt to obstruct the 
view of the chancel, we would advise 
their omission as a general thing, and in 
lieu of them construct a stone coping of 
sufficient height to protect the chancel, 
though in no way hiding any part of it ; 
the cross in this case being illuminated 
over the chancel arch. (See plate 23.) 
We find the authority for this coping in 
the ancient basilicas, or first Christian 
churches ; and their symbolic value is the 
same as that of the rood-screen, while 
offending no prejudices. 

Next in importance to the altar is the 
font ; the visible means to administering 
the second Sacrament of Holy Church. 



136 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



TMs should not be of small size and 
meagre ornament, without cover to pre- 
serve it from tlie sacrileo-e of beina; taken 
as a liat-stand, as we have frequently 
known to be the case. Nor should it 
be moved from 23lace to jDlace at the ca- 
price of each succeeding rector or vestry. 
The ancient position for the font was 
near the western doorway; thus symbol- 
izing the truth that it is through baj)- 
tism alone we enter the Church. But as 
the sacrament is now generally adminis- 
tered during Divine Service, such a posi- 
tion is inconvenient ; as in that case the 
ceremony must proceed at the backs of 
the congregation. It is, therefore, equally 
proper to j)lace it near the eastern en- 
trance; the symbolism being the same. In 
continental churches, small chapels, called 
baptisteries, are frequently a part of the 
edifice, but English examples of mediseval 
date are rare. There should at all events 
be some distinct architectural feature to 
mark the position of the font, such as 
its being raised by two or three marble 
steps, so that the most thick-headed ves- 
tryman in existence should be forced to 
see that it looked well in no other place. 
It should also be of sufficiently massive 



character to make its removal a matter 
of considerable difficulty, if not absolute 
impossibility. In all cases it should be 
closed, as in ancient examples, and it is 
well to have this cover rise in a lofty 
spire surmounted by the Cross, and elab- 
orately decorated. It should be secured 
with lock and key. This not only forms 
a beautiful architectural feature, but effect- 
ually prevents the use of the font as a 
seat ; which might be the case were the 
cover flat. There should also be a drain 
to let off the water immediately after use. 
Having arranged the altar and font, the 
pulpit next claims our attention. Accord- 
ing to Viollet-le-Duc, the introduction of 
the pulpit as a distinct feature dates 
from the thirteenth century. Before that 
period, occasional addresses were delivered 
from the rood-loft surmounting the rood- 
screen, or from a movable wooden stage 
enclosed on three sides. But when the 
sermon took a regular place in the ser- 
vices, it became needful that there should 
be some recognition of the fact in the 
building itself; and marble or stone pul- 
pits were introduced. At first they took 
the form of a balcony carried on corbel- 
ling in front of a niche in the wall, 



CHURCH ARCHITECTUBE. 



137 



wliicli acted as a souud reflector, and 
were approached by a small staircase in 
the thickness of the masonry. Afterward 
they resembled more nearly those that we 
now construct, but were almost invariably 
composed of costly marbles. Copies in 
plaster of some superb Italian pulpits are 
among the art treasures of Kensington 
Museum. The decorations of this, how- 
ever, as of everything outside the sanct- 
uary, should be kept in strict subordina- 
tion; for nowhere in the teachings of the 
Church do we find it laid down as a 
principle that the sermon is the leading 
act of our worship. 

The position of the pulpit is of the 
utmost importance for acoustic reasons. 
The great question is, from what point 
the voice may best be heard in all parts 
of the church. It was formerly the cus- 
tom to place the pulpit in the centre of 
the chancel ; but this was in an age when 
the chancel was a mere shallow, railed- 
off recess, and not what is now known 
as such, comprising choir and sanctuary. 
With our present more correct arrange- 
ment, if the pulpit be placed directly 
under the arch, the speaker's voice is 
swallowed up in the chancel behind, while 



it is always unpleasant to a clergyman to 
have the blank central alley before his 
eyes. The altar is likewise hidden from 
view, and the congregation, perhaps, ex- 
posed to a glare from the great east win- 
dow — a circumstance often trying in the 
extreme. We think the true position of 
the pulpit, therefore, is on the north side, 
a little in advance of the chancel arch, 
against the east wall of the nave. This 
not only obviates the unpleasant necessi- 
ty of looking straight at a huge win- 
dow, against which the preacher's form 
appears like a mere black shadow, but 
the wall acts as a reflector, and assists 
in throwing the voice into the body of 
the church. There is also a significance 
in the pulpit being to the north of the 
chancel, coinciding with the " Gospel side " 
of the altar — as indicating that the min- 
isters of Christ are to preach His Gospel 
unto every creatui'e. It will be found of 
immense assistance, in an acoustic point 
of view, to erect an ahat-voix^ or voice- 
reflector, over the pulpit. Mr. Blomfield, 
an English architect, sj)eaking on the same 
subject, says: "There seems at present to 
be an unfounded prejudice against sound- 
ing-boards. This is probably owing to 



138 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



the monstrous erections of the last cen- 
tury, wliicli seem, by some suspension of 
the laws of nature, to be balancing them- 
selves on one corner, ready at a moment's 
notice to shut clown on the preacher like 
the lid of a trap. Although apparently 
of enormous weight, they were, in fact, 
made of thin boards, and comparatively 
light, and were altogether shams and 
abominations; but because they were bad 
in design, I see no reason why sounding- 
boards should be condemned altogether, 
and, I think, that when there is any rea- 
son to suppose it may serve a useful pur- 
pose, it would be better for the architect 
to incorporate a sounding-board with his 
design, and put it up at once with the 
j)ulpit, than to run the risk of his work 
being disfigured by its addition hereafter 
in an inappropriate manner." 

It has sometimes been thought that the 
lofty arches and open timber roof of a 
Gothic church interfered with distinct 
hearing, but in fact this is not so, for 
it has been found that a flat-ceiled audi- 
torium is much more liable to echoes. It 
is a well-known fact that a long tube 
or pipe is a superior conductor of sound 
— a whisper at one end being heard with 



perfect distinctness at the other — and the 
vista of nave and aisles, with pillars on 
each side, and arching roof overhead, acts 
in much the same manner. 

Sir Christopher Wren gives as the max- 
imum for distinct hearing an auditorium 
ninety feet long and sixty feet broad, 
while a larger space than this it is diffi- 
cult to fill with the voice. It is unfor- 
tunate that this great man did not live 
at a period more favorable for Gothic 
art, but even building the classic edifices 
that he did — though the temptation must 
have been great, in view of the advance 
made in their construction, to make the 
roofs a single span, and avoid columns — 
yet in no instance has he departed from 
the form of nave and aisles ; doubtless 
on account of the acoustic principle men- 
tioned above. 

When an echo still exists from some 
unexpected cause, it may sometimes be 
checked by the erection of galleries ; but 
these again are open to the objection of 
obstructing hearing in the aisles immedi- 
ately below, to say nothing of their high- 
ly un architectural and ungothic effect. 

We would advise that galleries should 
be abandoned altogether, since the prin- 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



139 



cipal argument in their favor — the attain- 
ino; an increase of accommodation at a 
limited expense — is, to a great extent, er- 
roneous. When we consider that from 
their total area must be deducted the 
numerous passages requisite through their 
leng-th, as well as the passage at the 
back, and the space occupied by the pil- 
lars of the nave, we shall find that near- 
ly one half of their space is thus taken 
up ; and as with galleries it becomes nec- 
essary to carry up the outer walling to 
a greater height than would otherwise be 
required, their economy can scarcely be 
brought forward as an argument. On the 
score of beauty and architectural projori- 
ety they cannot be defended for a mo- 
ment. They cut up the windows and 
piers into two or more j^ieces, obstruct 
the view of the interior, are noisy, ill- 
ventilated, and interfere with the circula- 
tion of air in the aisle beneath, and by 
over-crowding assist materially in creating 
bad air throughout the building. Add to 
this the inconvenience arising to the sit- 
ters therein in going to receive Holy Com- 
munion, and the certain danger to life and 
limb which would attend a rush down 
their narrow stairs in case of fire occur- 



ring during service, and we think a suf- 
ficient number of reasons have been ad- 
duced, architectural, sanitary, and, as ^ve 
have said before, acoustic, against those 
awkward abominations — church ecalleries. 
If for some exti'aordinary reason they can- 
not be dispensed with, they should be 
confined to the transej)ts only. 

Finally, we must not omit to consider 
the vexed question of pews. These, we 
wish, with all our heart, could be at once 
done away with, as they not only inter- 
fere materially with the architectural ef- 
fect, by burying up the bases of the pil- 
lars, but we think are contrary to the 
spirit of true religion. Sold to the high- 
est bidder, and secured under lock and 
key, even when their owners do not at- 
tend service, they frowningly repulse the 
poor and the stranger, and virtually shut 
them out from the house of Him to whom 
the poor and the stranger are "joint heirs 
with Christ." And so the jDoor man leaves 
the Church with an aching heart, perhajDS 
to be led like a wandering sheep into 
the fold of Rome ; perhaps to be enticed 
by Mormonism or Spiritualism, or only 
too frequently into the drinking shop. 
How many a youth, coming a stranger to 



140 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



one of our large cities, away from tlie in- 
fluence of liome, owing to the lack of 
a senial welcome in our cliurclies, has 
left God's House in utter disgust ! His 
Sundays are thenceforth spent in idleness ; 
he is gradually led into bad company, 
and thus takes the road, if not to utter 
destruction, yet tending to a callousness 
of conscience, which " grows with his 
growth, and ripens with his years." Per- 
haps if the Church exercised a deeper 
influence over young men, we should not 
have so many venal politicians, fraudu- 
lent bankruj^ts, and defaulting tradesmen. 
Let us hope that the day may soon come 
when the pew system shall be entirely 
abolished — movable forms, or even chairs 
being substituted, either of which afford 
the worshipper the opportunity of kneel- 
ing, as required by the rubrics, instead 
of the half-crouching, half-sitting position, 
at present the only one possible in most 
churches. 

Pews, indeed, as locked, and lyrivate 
divisions of an edifice intended for pub- 
lic worship, are a totally different affair 
from the low, simple, open benches that 
in mediaeval times bore the name. They 
assumed the former character in the days 



of Puritanism ; the leading idea of which 
seems to be to look after one's own wel- 
fare, in as selfish and exclusive a manner 
as possible, shutting out everybody else, 
and leaving them to get along as best 
they may — if we do not actually j)erse- 
cute them. As these Puritan pews were 
formerly constructed, with high-cushioned 
backs, and surrounded with curtains, they 
were certainly better adapted to encour- 
age lethargy than devotion, and, we read, 
were built with the intention of evading 
compliance with the rubrics, by hiding 
the occu]3ants from view (Charles H. hav- 
ing imposed a fine on all who refrained 
from rising, bowing, etc., at the prescribed 
times). As they were furnished with 
seats all around, of course one half the 
congregation were placed with their backs 
to the chancel, thus offerino; a direct in- 
suit to the Sanctuary itself. A stove in 
one corner, and a centre-table, completed 
the furniture of the enclosure, which so 
entirely secluded its occupants as to de- 
stroy the idea of puhlic worship. These 
monstrous erections have been modified, 
it is true, but they are still far too luxu- 
rious. We are not enjoined to be list- 
less and indolent in the service of God, 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



141 



but ever on the alert, ready, like good 
soldiers of Christ's Church Militant, to 
" watch and pray/' 

At present, even when a few free 
seats are allowed in the churches of 
the wealthy, they are situated in such 
dark, cold, draughty corners, out of sight 
and hearing, as render them unsalable at 
the high price demanded; as though the 
committee were resolved on exactly re- 
producing the unchristian and unloving 
spirit reprimanded by St. James in his 
Epistle, where he says, "If there come 
unto your assembly a man with a gold 
ring, in goodly apparel, and there come 
in also a poor man in vile raiment; and 
ye have respect to him that weareth the 
gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou 
here in a good place; and say to the 
poor. Stand thou there, or sit here un- 
der my footstool : are ye not then partial 
in yourselves, and are become judges of 
evil thoughts ? " " But if ye have respect 
to persons, ye commit sin, and are con- 
vinced of the law as transgressors." (See 
plate 18.) Such a commingling of both 
systems is pretty sure to prove a failure. 
In one instance we have heard of, a well- 
meant effort in the other direction met 



with still more signal defeat. The ves- 
try of a certain church, having had the 
remark made to them that the poor of 
the parish were not comfortably proNJdcd 
with free seats, forthwith most amiably 
announced that a number of the best seats, 
near the chancel, would in future be free 
to all who could not afford to pay pew- 
rent. Sunday came; the good people of 

St. 's marched into church, feeling 

that now, indeed, they had done the 
thing as well as the greatest caviller 
could msh, — but, to their un(|ualified 
astonishment, the free seats were totally 
empty ! 

The following day inquiry was made 
into this seemingly ungrateful conduct on 
the part of the poor, when the very nat- 
ural reason came out, that no one cared 
thus publicly to expose their penury, and 
undergo the mortification of apj^earing as 
dependents on the vestry's generosity. No, 
the true way is, to make all the seats 
free, and let the first one who comes 
take the first seat : " For God is no re- 
specter of persons." And although we do 
not like the introduction of anything per- 
taining to politics in Church matters, yet 
we may be allowed to say, as members 



142 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



of a republic, that it is in opposition to 
our principle, that all men are born free 
and equal to make this difference between 
the accommodation of rich and poor. 

It may be said that the churches would 
in that case be overflowed ; but why 
should we not build more and larger 
churches ? Others will object that the 
income of the Church would be cut off; 
but the first objection answers this, for 
with the increased number of worship- 
pers, and the consequent more frequent 
services and celebrations required, the of 
fertory would be augmented in pro]3or- 
tion. Moreover, true Christian charity, as 
demonstrated by St. Paul, " seeketh not 
her own ; gives, and asks not in return." 
Let the rich man who has been paying 
several hundred dollars pew rent, add 
that amount to his ordinary contribu- 
tions ; and no one is so poor as not to 
be able to give a " widow's mite " in re- 
turn for the Church beautified,, and her 
services carried out to the fullest extent. 
" Freely ye have received, freely give." 

But IV ill the Church-goers thus con- 
tribute to the support of a church which 
affords them no cushioned and carpeted 
pew, with locked door and ostentatious 



silver name-plate ? Certainly they will — 
and give more. This is no mere surmise 
of the author. In England, where the 
free seat system has been thoroughly test- 
ed, both in old churches where pews have 
been abolished, and new ones starting on 
this basis, it has proved a j)erfect suc- 
cess, and the income, far from falling off, 
has in many instances been doubled. 

We cannot forbear inserting in this 
place the address of the parishioners of 
St. George's, Hanover Square, one of the 
most fashionable churches in Loudon, to 
the wardens, on the evils of the pew sys- 
tem. We think it as good an argument 
as we could adduce ao-ainst this unchris- 
tian shutting up of God's House : 

Hanover Square, February, 1870. 
To the Churchwardens of St, George'' s : 

Gentlemen : We, the undersigned parishioners, 
received, some time ago, a circular respecting the 
present deplorable state of St. George's Church, 
and the diminishing funds from which the income 
of the incumbent is supplied. The subject is one 
of great importance. The fact that one of the 
largest and finest chiirches in London, built at 
an enormous cost, situated in the wealthiest part 
of London, should be in the condition described, 
seems to us to demand a careful inquiry into the 
cause of so remarkable and lamentable an effect. 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



145 



Wc venture to suggest that such an inquiry will 
sliow the eauses Avliy this spacious and handsome 
church has ceased to attract congregations, and is, 
in fact, comparatively deserted, are the following : 
1. The unseemly and bad arrangement of the in- 
terior. 2. The infrequeucy and length of tlie ser- 
vices. 3. The infrequency of the celebration of 
the Eucharist, and the consequent loss of the re- 
sources of tlie offertory. We beg to say a few 
words on each of these subjects : 

1. The church seems to have been originally fit- 
ted up almost exclusively for the rich, at a time 
when devotional feeling and taste were at a low 
ebb. High pews, built at much expense, render- 
ing invidiously prominent the distinction between 
rich and poor, marring the appearance of uniform- 
ity in the mode of worship, unfavorable to devo- 
tion, favorable to slumber, occupy and disfigure 
the area of the church. The poor are confined to 
scanty and uncomfortable seats, in which kneel- 
ing, as the Church directs, is physically impossi- 
ble, and rarely or never attempted. We think 
that these arrangements should be remodelled, the 
pews should be removed, low, open benches should 
be introduced, so that the interior may be that 
of a church equally available to all. 

2. The injurious effect of three services and a 
sermon, piled together from eleven to one, and 
the subsequent rather unattractive service from 
four to five, are best proved by reference to ex- 
perience of the contrary system. Her Majesty's 
chapel at the Savoy, is in an obscure street, lead- 
ing out of the Strand; it was formerlv maintained 



by tlie unsatisfactory system of pew routs and close 
seats, was little known, and less frequented. It 
was burnt down in 1864. It has been rebuilt in 
the best taste and spirit, under the directions of 
her Majesty, who has ordered tlie seats to be free, 
and the offertory to take tlie place of pew rents. 
The chapel is now so crowded that it has become 
necessary to have an early communion at 8:30, 
service from ten till eleven, service at 11:30, and 
so on. The reason of this great cliange cannot be 
misunderstood. It is clearly because there are no 
high pews, nor distinctions between rich and poor; 
because the interior is devotional, rich, and decent ; 
the services frequent, various, and attractive ; the 
church constantly open. The Church of All Saints, 
Margaret street, is crowded from morning to night 
with worshippers and communicants. These two 
instances are selected, out of many, in this metrop- 
olis. But we believe there is no instance where a 
like result has not followed on a like improvement. 
We have no doubt that restoration, effected on 
these principles at St. George's, would bear fur- 
ther testimony to the general and increasing in- 
clination for shorter and for choral services, equally 
accessible to rich and poor. 

3. This appears to us worthy of sjjecial consid- 
eration. The success of the weekly and festival 
offertory, where the services and interior arrange- 
ment of the church are such as we have adverted 
to, has exceeded the most sanguine expectations. 
St. George's Church lies in one of the wealthiest 
districts of this town ; there are churches situated 
in places of far less opulence and sjilendor, in 



146 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



which the offertory has amounted to more than 
£1,000 per annum ; and in one, if not more, that 
amount has been more than doubled. We have 
abundant evidence that people in this great and 
rich country will give freely in churches where 
their hearts are touched, and their devotional feel- 
ings called forth, where the service is full of life, 
where it does not repel by its length nor weary 
by its monotony the average class of congrega- 
tions. At all events, the experiment will be worth 
the trial, inasmuch as the failure of the present 
system is admitted to be complete. 

We indulge a sanguine hoj^e that if there were 
continual services in St. George's for all, some 
plain, some choral, Avith good music, such as the 
church with its fine organ can now command, 
this comjjaratively empty church would be filled 
with worshippers from every class of the large 
parish for whose religious benefit it was built, and 
that the offertory would extract from their will- 
ing hearts an income equal to that which the ex- 
clusive system of pew-rents ever yielded, and far 
exceeding the reduced amount which it now with 
difficulty supplies. 

{Signed) 
Robert Phillimoee, Emily P. Beaufort, 



C. A. Phellimore, 

H. DONOUGHMORE, 
LONDESBOROtJGH, 

Edith Londesborottgh, 

Caknarvon, 

Templemore, 



Arthur Walsh, 
Emily Walsh, 
R. Ch.arteris, 
Margaret Charteris, 
Wakren de Tabley, 
Salisbury, 



Augustus Buncombe, Dean of York. 



G. Salisbury, 
Harriet C. Duncombe, 
Alice Enfield, 
Edwakd Hulse, 
Delamere, 
Augusta Delamere, 
Percy Bubrell, 
Henrietta Burrell, 
W. S. Forsythe, 



Clinton, 

Harriet Clinton, 

A. B. Wilmot Horton, 

George Fortescue, 

Louisa Fortescue, 

Bath, 

F. J. Bath, 

Edwin Saunders, 

A. O. Prickard, and others. 



Siieli is tlie testimony of noble and in- 
fluential members of tlie Cliurcli, and, we 
think, no one will question its justice and 
good sense. 

We generally find that in a free churcli 
the disposition is to form Sisterhoods and 
Brotherhoods among the charitable, Avho 
materially aid the clergy in visiting and 
relieving the sick poor of the parish. 
Thus a spirit of enlarged beneficence is 
among the good results of the system. 
A greater number of children, who would 
otherwise be destitute of religious instruc- 
tion, are also brought into the Sunday 
and parish schools. We may say, in con- 
nection with this subject, that there should 
be a preference given in the formation 
of the boy-classes in the parish school 
to those boys who have good voices and 
can be placed under training for the 
choir. Thus a constant succession of chor- 



isters will be secured, from wliicli coun- 
try churches may he supplied. 

And finally, Avith our beautiful services 
well and widely known and loved among 
the masses of the people, the field and 



influence of the Church would be increased 
an hundredfold ; she would advance to 
her rightful place, and be in all time to 
come first in the hearts of the nations 
upon earth. 



DESIGN VIII 



Sufficient stress lias not "been laid, we 
tliink, on the impropriety of using the 
churcli for other purposes than the wor- 
ship of God. It is not unfrequently the 
case that entirely outside matters, though 
connected, to be sure, with the church, 
such as Sunday Schools, parish meetings, 
anniversaries, and the like, are held there 
with as little scruple as though actually 
a part of the liturgy. 

We have in mind the case of an indi- 
vidual, the head and front of a certain 
small country parish, who not only in- 
sisted that the Christmas festival for the 
children should be held in the church, 
but would have it that their presents 
should be spread out upon the altar. In 
vain did the rector endeavor to convince 
him that what he proposed was little 
less than sacrilege — the wealthy parish- 
ioner was immovable. He had in fact 
the idea, as he had built the church 
and paid half the minister's salary, that 
by doing these good works he patronized 
the Lord pretty handsomely ; and conse- 



quently, in the direction of Church affairs, 
should represent infallibility in person. 

What was the rector to do ? He had 
to live, and understood full well that in 
case of his continuing to resist, his sti- 
pend, small as it was, would probably 
be reduced one half. Still, he stood firm 
for the right, and the result was that, 
instead of his usual Christmas remem- 
brance, he received an intimation that if 
he chose to remain in the parish, it 
would be under the loss of that half 
of his salary contributed by Mr. . 

What remained was a sum so utterly 
inadequate to the wants of his family, 
to say nothing of the duties of charity 
and hospitality incumbent, on his position, 
that he was fairly driven from his flock, 
to whom he was devotedly attached, to 
seek a parish where more respect for 
sacred things could be maintained. Let 
no one think this an exaggerated view 
of the case, for sui'ely, if we believe the 
church to be " the house of God, the gate 
of Heaven," if its consecration to His ser- 



Plate 19. 



Design 8 




I 



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CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



151 



vice, and tlie celelimtiou of tlie most sa- 
cred mysteries of faith \vitliin its walls, 
have auy halknviiig effect whatever, it 
must be profaning that holy place to 
intrude upon it anything not directly per- 
taining to the Liturgy. 

The same objection does not exist 
against a room for these purposes under 
the same roof, provided it be distinctly 
separated from the sanctuary. Every ca- 
thedral and collegiate church formerly had 
its chapter-house, — a hall of meeting for 
chmx'h business, — and these were often 
very superb ; stained glass, encaustic tile.", 
and painted roofs lending their aid to 
make the chapter-house worthy of the 
noble edifice to which it appertained. 
Similar halls, either detached or incor- 
porated with the church, would be very 
proper at the present day ; though scarce- 
ly of equal pretensions, unless attached 
to a cathedral, and would serve at the 
same time for lecture-rooms, Parish and 
Sunday Schools. Frequently, however, a 
transept separated from the body of the 
church by a portable screen, as in de- 
sign 6, may serve the purpose, and also 
have the advantage, in case of overcrowd- 
ed congregations, of being readily thrown 



into the auditorium ])y the removal oC 
the screen. 

When detached from the church, these 
buildings may assume the form of a 
chapel, which, tliough not privileged to 
have the Sacraments administered within 
its walls, may appropriately be used, not 
only for the purposes we have indicated, 
but also for daily prayers, when the con- 
gregation is not sufficiently numerous to 
warrant the opening of the church. 

In the present instance we have located 
a room for Sunday Schools, etc., in the 
basement, as owing to the peculiar slope 
of the grade from west to east this story 
is entirely above ground. 

The design presents marked Italian 
characteristics, the most prominent being 
the tower, which serves as a southern 
entrance, the belfry stairs being in a 
small outside turret. It is l)old in treat- 
ment, the middle stage perfectly j)lain 
and rigid in character, contrasting strong- 
ly with the elaborate detail of the lower 
stage one of whose enrichments is a band 
of bas-reliefs above the arches, a mode 
of treatment peculiar to Italian Gothic. 
The motive for confining the more deli- 
cate ornament to the lower story, is ob- 



152 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



viously that if placed too mucli above 
the range of vision, the greater part of 
its effect is lost. The bolder enrichments 
v^^ill, of course, occujDy the distant and 
elevated portions of the edifice. 

Another peculiar feature is the contin- 
uation of transept roof above the ridge 
of the nave, having somewhat the effect 
of a I'ood tower. Prominence is also 
given it by the introduction of the ta- 
pering lantern. 

As we have before stated, much effect 
may be imparted to a building, in the 
absence of buttresses or other projections 
to relieve its surface, by the use of string 
courses having a strong contrasting tone 
of color. For these it will be proper to 
use stone of a softer character than that 



of the walls, being more susceptible of 
ornamental rendering. Care should be 
taken, however, that this material be of 
a nature to withstand the action of the 
weather, and wear of time. The Caen 
stone, for example, which is used success- 
fully in France and England, has proved 
unequal to endure the asperities of our 
own climate, or that of Canada ; display- 
ing, in many cases, a perilous tendency 
to crumble; and with the warning of the 
Houses of Parliament before us, which are 
literally dropping to pieces before they 
have been built twenty years, Ave cannot 
fail to appreciate the importance of select- 
ing for our buildings a material which 
is proof against decay, as far as that can 
be said of any thing earthly. 



Plate 20. 



DcSli-rJ 8 




I>jppptlivi? Vt0U). 



■^.M. ^HOTO-UTHO RAPHiC CO. NY ■ OSHORNtS FffUCCii I | 



CHAPTER X. 



COLOR DECORATION 



In all good architecture, from the earli- 
est ages, color has beeu recognized as 
au important accessory. From the stu- 
pendous monuments of Egypt and Assy- 
ria, the graceful remains of Pompeii, and 
more elaborate buildings of Athens and 
Rome, we gather the indisputable fact 
that color was universally employed ; and 
never do we strip the desecrating coats 
of Puritan whitewash from the walls of 
a venerable Gothic church, without find- 
ing underneath traces of the admirable 
mural painting, which once so greatly en- 
hanced its beauty. Even among nations 
which we have been accustomed to con- 
sider almost barbarous — the Hindoos, Per- 
sians, Chinese, and especially the Arabs 
— we find the most exquisite designs and 
choice of colors. Oavcu Jones, in his 
" Grammar of Ornament," has given il- 
lustrations of the colored decoration of 
all these, as well as more refined peo- 



ples, and they are models to be studied 
by every designer of this class of orna- 
ment. 

The sister arts of architecture, sculpt- 
ure, and painting, go hand-in-hand ; and 
unless they are all combined, a monu- 
mental structure can hardly be called 
complete. Just as a steel engraving can 
give us Ijut a partial idea of a fine paint- 
ing, all the warm tone and harmonious 
depth of blended tints being lost, so the 
building is but a mere architectural out- 
line, however ]3erfect the masonry and 
rich the details, unless the hand of the 
painter has animated its sombre masses 
through the spi7'ituelle and enlivening in- 
fluences of color. 

There are various ways in which color 
decoration may be applied, from the most 
elaborate arabesque to the simplest fol- 
lowing of the leading lines of masonry ; 
and frequently the whole appearance of 



156 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



a building may be materially altered by 
this means. For instance, too low a struc- 
ture may be imj^roved by multiplying 
vertical lines on tlie walls, and giving 
to the roof a receding tint ; or the lieiglit 
may be reduced by a dark color on the 
roof, and horizontal bands on the walls. 
A Ijare, cold-looking expanse of plaster 
may be turned into a "thing of beauty" 
by means of a dado, or space of dark 
color, about the height of an ordinary 
wainscot, surmounted by a border of l^ril- 
liant polychrome, the remaining space be- 
ing stencilled in diaper. Again, a win- 
dow which has no label-mouldiuo- has 
the same emphasis given it by a line of 
painting; and string-courses can be sim- 
ulated with fine effect by bands of rich 
color on a buff or j)archment-tinted ground. 
The mediaeval painters frequently made 
use of the vellum tint, perhaps on ac- 
count of its similarity to the vellum mis- 
sals they were accustomed to illuminate; 
for in all probability the monks were 
the authors of all this lovely decoration, 
which in former times was the rule, not 
the exception. It is a peculiar character- 
istic of Gothic painting, we should re- 
member, that nothing like shadow or per- 



sj^ective is introduced ; the colors are all 
flat, i:)lain tints, and this rule we should 
rigidly follow. It is a curious fact, too, 
that flat conventional treatment is really 
most j)leasing to the eye, and though 
not an actual representation, happily and 
successfully reminds us of nature, as it 
were, by a beautiful symbol. In another 
case of conventional treatment — the eagle 
lectern — it must be admitted that no real 
representation of an eagle could ever ap- 
proach in grandeur and fitness those quaint 
and magnificent birds with outstretched 
wings and upturned heads which symbol- 
ize eagles, and are really best when least 
like them. 

As for the attempts made by those 
tyros, whose highest idea of decoration 
consists in painting sham mouldings, arch- 
es, pillars, and even perspective chancels 
on flat walls, they are only worthy of 
the renaissance which fostered them. And 
yet these very men are so wise in their 
self-conceit, that they imagine wisdom 
shall die with them, and after them shall 
come the deluge of mediaeval (?) darkness. 

It may be useful to suggest a few 
modes of color decoration culled from 
ancient examples. 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



157 



For instance, take a small country 
cliiireli, where tlie ornament is required 
to be dieaj) and simple, yet effective. 
AVe mio'lit choose as a model for this 
the parish church of Little Coggeshall, 
England, a good specimen of the class. 
The walls are covered with a diaper of 
red, "with green Jleurs-de-Us. The wall- 
plate has red in the hollow, and a del- 
icate shade of ultra-marine green on the 
projecting roll of its mouldings ; the span- 
drels are decorated with a flowino; foli- 
age pattern of eai'ly English character ; 
while the floor is inlaid with brown, 
green, and red tiles. The whole is j^er- 
fectly simple, and the effect warm and 
life-like. 

Then for a richer effect, let us take, 
as an example, a large church of elab- 
orate design. In each of the spandrels, 
between the bays, is a rich and bold 
centre-piece, perhaps a geometrical Gothic 
figure, charged with a sacred emblem or 
monogram. This is surrounded by scroll- 
work of the thirteenth century, richly col- 
ored, in flat tints, starting from behind 
it and following the form of the spandrel. 
The surrounding walls are covered with 
a diaper in gold and colors. The mould- 



ings are richly colored and gilded, the 
caj)itals of the pillars illuminated, and 
the open timber roof tinted 1)1 uc between 
the rafters, and i:>owdered with gold stars. 
The rafters themselves are enriched with 
lines of color and gold. The spaces ovei' 
the arched windows are relieved by a 
ribbon bearing a text in black letter. 
This is known as legendary decoration, 
and may also l)e introduced on string- 
courses, cornices, and arches. 

A very beautiful example of the adorn- 
ment of a church, with texts appropriate 
to every part, is a small chapel in Lu- 
ton, Bedfordshire, which has the follow- 
ing: over the principal doorway are the 
words — " The House of God is the gate 
of Heaven ; " on the north and south side 
of the entrance — " Praise Him ye young 
men. Praise Him ye maidens" (Psalm 
cxlviii. 1 2) ; over the eastern door—" This 
is the gate of the Lord, the just shall 
enter in " (Psalm cxviii. 20) ; on the north 
wall are the words — " I will ^vash mine 
hands in innocency, O Lord, and so shall 
I come to Thine altar " (Psalm xxvi. 6.) 
On the altar are the names of our Lord 
in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; and on the 
reredos the following passages : " We have 



158 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



an altar ; " " Eat ye all of this ; " " Into 
whicli the angels desire to look ; " " Do 
this in remembrance of Me." Even the 
singular feature of a chimney-piece has 
this inscription from Gen. xxii. 7 : " Be- 
hold the fire and the wood : but where 
is the victim of the whole burnt offer- 
ing ? " We meet with another instance in 
which over a church door, on the outside 
wall, is the following Latin couplet : 

" Pax tibi sit quicunqiie Dei pentraUa Christi — 
JPectore pacijico candidus ingrederis : 

exhorting all men to enter the church 
with a 23ure and honorable heart. 
And on the inside we read : 

" Quisquis ah mde Dei perfectis ordine votis, 
JEJgrederis, remea corpore, corde mane : " 

requiring all those who go out of the 
church to leave at least their hearts be- 
hind them. 

Another mode of relievins: the wall 
surface is by the introduction of mosa- 
ics, formed in encaustic tiles, alabaster, 
brick, and terra-cotta; or by the use of 
" sgrafito," which is black or colored ce- 
ment laid in incised lines on the face 
of the Avork. The colors of the tiles are 
mostly red, black, and yellow ; the red 
ones have frequently a yellow pattern 



after the ancient examples. Alabaster is 
generally used in the reredos, and col- 
ored marbles about the pulpit and font. 
The " sgrafito " is a novelty in this coun- 
try, but in many fine modern English 
churches has been used with good effect, 
not only in lines of geometrical tracery 
and foliage, but also for figures and em- 
blems. 

The space over the chancel arch af- 
fords a fine field for ornament ; and a 
superb decorated cross will here have a 
noble effect. This may be either inlaid 
in tiles, or mosaic, or painted and gilt, 
and surrounded with elaborate devices. 
Another mode is to represent the figure 
of Jesus over the centre of the arch, 
in a '■'■vesica piscis,'''' or glory, surrounding 
the entire figure — so called from its sup- 
posed resemblance to the shape of a fish 
— with angels bearing censers on either 
side. All the decorations should, how- 
ever, be subordinated outside the chan- 
cel, and the sanctuary should as far ex- 
cel in the splendor and amount of its 
ornament every other portion of the edi- 
fice, as the palace of an earthly king ex- 
ceeds the residences of even his wealthy 
subjects. Evidently there is here a wide 



field for the man of cultivated artistic 
feeling aud love of pure Gothic. Such 
an one can find no better exercise for 
his fancy and invention, than in compos- 
ing and varying these admirable decora- 
tions. We can hardl}' do Ijetter, how- 
ever, than refer back to the works of 
the past ; and particularl}' such restored 
examples as the Saint Chapelle give us 
an idea of the lavish beauty and rich- 
ness which the builders of those pious 
ages thought it no extravagance to j)our 
out on their sacred edifices. Would that 
the same spirit might obtain in our day ! 
Then we should no longer see cold, shab- 
by, barren churches, whose interior seems 
to whisper of parsimony and mean pinch- 
ing economy; or, still worse, the Puritan 
prejudice and want of taste of their build- 
ers. 

It will not be amiss, while on the 
subject of color, to speak of that noble 
and appropriate adornment — stained glass. 
It is most deeply to be regretted that 
the secrets of the mediaeval workers have 
been lost. The art by which they pro- 
duced those jewelled effects, that trans- 
lucent flood of rainbo^v light, we know 
nothing of; and the vast majority of the 



specimens they left in England ^^'ere most 
cruelly destroyed in the time of Crom- 
well's administration. 

Still, from the rare fragments that are 
left there, and the more perfect remains 
on the continent — notably in the Saint 
Chaj)elle — it is possible to form an id(!a 
of those glorious works of art, and there 
seems to be but little chance of modern 
artists rivalling them. Still, a great ad- 
vance has been made over the days when 
stained glass was only to be had from 
the hands of the plumber, and a bor- 
dering of alternate lilac, orange, and blue 
squares, surrounding the plain glass, was 
thought quite a fine thing in the way 
of a church window. 

It is curious that with the profound 
knowledge they showed of flower and 
geometrical drawing, the mediaeval glass- 
stainers seem to have had little or no 
idea of the anatomy of the human form, 
or of ^perspective, yet the very quaint 
archaic drawing of the saints and angels 
on their windows makes them more char- 
acteristic and interesting. And there can 
be no doubt that it was partly done 
on principle, for glass staining j)roperly 
does not admit of shading or rounded 



160 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



outlines. Eveiytliing should be represent- 
ed flat ; and the colors contrasted rather 
than blended, — -just as we have described 
in wall painting. The large amount of 
leading, too, has a great deal to do with 
the eifect. This was adopted not as an ex- 
pedient — because the poor ignorant "dark- 
ao-es" men could not make such fine large 
sheets of glass as ourselves — but because 
the very object was to present a trans- 
parent mosaic, that these pictures were 
composed of separate jDieces leaded to- 
gether, instead of the design being paint- 
ed on a plain surface like a picture on 
canvas. As shadows are impossible (prop- 
erly speaking), the outlines of the figures 
require to be emphasized by the lead- 
ing, while enamel painting neutralizes the 
exquisite transparency of the glass, mak- 
ing it more like oiled paper or porce- 
lain, and at once destroying the peculiar 
effect of the old work. 

The Italians, subsequent to this orig- 
inal style, had a very beautiful method 
of staining glass, which unfortunately has 
also died out. They Avent in for light 
and color con amove; and designed for 
Ijreadth of contrast and vigor of effect, 
figures, architecture, fruit, flowers, and 



then leaded them all together, regardless 
of atmospheric effect and perspective; and 
the result was architecturesque and grand 
in the extreme. But their successors took 
to painting in enamel perspective pictures, 
and the art of glass staining was at an 
end. With the religious and political 
troubles of the fifteenth century came the 
lowering of puljlic taste, and the cessa- 
tion of the demand for good art of any 
kind. 

It is a cheering circumstance that this 
demand is reviving, and artistic work 
is beginning to be appreciated. And al- 
though we do not yet know how to ^yo- 
duce the jewelled effects of the mediaeval 
workers, still, some of the rules which 
undoubtedly governed them may be de- 
duced, and, if followed, will go far to 
ensure success. First, the use of broad, 
clear tints, with dark shades in the few- 
est possible places, for there ought to be 
no modulation in glass, and the whole 
formed of separate pieces, leaded togeth- 
er after the manner of a mosaic. 

Second, the conventional treatment of 
figures and drapery ; while in place of 
serial perspective the glass-stainer should 
only suggest (however untruly in a real- 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



161 



istic seuse) proximity by strong colors, 
and distance by the more delicate. 

Glass is preeminently a tiling of light 
and color, and as such it should always 
be treated. We cannot do better than 
conclude by quoting the words of an 
English writer on the subject, speaking 
of the ■ wealth of glory, light, and beauty 
at the command of the artistic worker 
in this beautiful material : 

"Let the giass-stainer do honor to his 
glass ! Let there be no hesitation about 
it, no ^vi'etchecl condescension to mislead 
those who gaze upon it. Let it be glass 
without mistake ; parading nothing, pre- 
tending nothing, but honored even in its 
weakness and treated with justice even to 
its defects. Why envy the qualities or even 
the excellences of other arts ? or why dread 
the genuine light of day — the open sun and 
passing cloud? (which are as death and 
destruction to the oil and fresco painter). 

" Have you not gems to j)lay with ? a 
very flood of gems to toss about and let 
your thoughts revel in ? Do you fear 
their gayness and vivacity? What if the 
diamond, ruby, and emerald have a fire 
which no art can equal save yours alone, 
have you not also the mellow richness 



of the jacinth, the softness of the chrys- 
oprase, the tenderness of the pearl ? If 
you fear them, leave them ! If you use 
them, let it be within the limits of an 
educated sense. Treat them with that 
mingled modesty and confidence which 
have ever been and ever must be the 
characteristics of disciplined genius. You 
have entered the temple of the arts with 
the most precious jewels in your hands. 
Ignorance and self-conceit are sacrilege 
here. Sordid motives are sacrilege here. 

" It might have been well for the great 
men of former days to have played with 
their arts, confident in their principles, but 
modest in themselves. But glass staining 
is no easy and light matter. The mere 
material itself is so beautiful that the 
eyes of the vulgar are dazzled and de- 
ceived by it, but it needs the utmost 
tact in its management, and genius and 
labor, long and hard, for its success. 

"Let, then, no wilful, no untrained hand 
meddle with it ; let no vain spii'it of 
self-taught genius intrude upon it ; for 
such an one, who thus violates the sanc- 
tity of the art, will cut the throat of 
his hopes and reputation as surely as 
the glass will cut his fingers." 



DESIGN IX. 



The style of this church incorporates 
many of the leading characteristics of 
Italian Gothic, although much " modified 
to suit the requirements of climate and 
modern usage, and borrowing from more 
northern lands the steep roof and taper- 
ing spire. It is on a somewhat larger 
scale than those previously given, con- 
taining nearly one thousand sittings. Its 
plan is a quadrangle, composed of nave 
and aisles, without transepts. There are 
three alleys, and six ranges of pews, — 
effecting an economy of space by having 
a pew on each side. There are three 
western entrances, two of which are 
formed by north and south porches, and 
the third by the base of the tower. 

The chancel, divided into sanctuary 
and choir, is flanked by sacristy and 
chancel aisle, — the former containing the 
organ, while the latter acts as a bap- 
tistery and eastern entrance. The sacris- 
ty, it will be observed, is divided in- 
to two stories, the upper one, intended 
to serve for a study, is approached by 



a circular staircase at the right of the 
entrance. 

The interior of this church (see plate 
23) has an open timber roof, suj)ported 
by an iron lattice girder beneath the 
ridge, thereby doing away with the ne- 
cessity for buttresses, as described in our 
article on roofs. The rood-screen is omit- 
ted in this instance, and the stone coping, 
before alluded to, marks the division 
between nave and chancel. The cross, 
which Avould otherwise surmount the 
screen, is illuminated on the wall above 
the chancel arch, surrounded by a vesi- 
ca 'piscis^ with the al])Jut and omega on 
either side enclosed in a circle and tri- 
angle. The arch itself is illuminated with 
a legendary decoration. 

The columns supporting the chancel 
arch, and those between choir and bap- 
tistery, are of polished Aberdeen granite, 
excepting the base, capital, and annulus. 
which are of white marble. The arches 
are constructed of light and dark stone, 
in alternate voussoirs. The reredos above 



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CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



165 



tlie dado is of illuniiuated tile, surmount- 
ed b}- au enriched stone cornice, and the 
sedilia are a series of stone niclies built 
■\vithiu the wall. 

The roof of the choir is of an open 
timber character, like that of the nave, 
and extends as far as a foliated cusping, 
pierced with quatre-foils, and received by 
columns reaching to the floor — thus mark- 
ing distinctly the division between choir 
and sanctuary. The latter, carrying out 
the principle that all decoration should 
culminate at this crowning point, has, in- 
stead of an open timber roof, a panelled 
ceiling, richly illuminated. 

The pulpit, the motive of which was 
taken from one of Moyr Smith's spirited 
designs, is executed in marble — ^the stand- 
ard of perforated metal-work of an elab- 
orate character. The font is of Caen 
stone, having a traceried pyramidal cover, 
surmounted by a floriated cross. 

Our readers will agree that there is 
a certain propriety in constructing the 
floors of a style and in a material equal 
in dignity and richness to other parts 
of the building. Accordingly, we would 
propose that the entire flooring be of 
tile excepting that within the pews. The 



nave may be laid in plain, square tile, 
set diamond-wise ; the choir, in those of 
varied colors ; and the sanctuary have its 
floor of encaustic tiles, forming a brilliant 
and complete mosaic pattern. The chan- 
cel steps may be of marble, thus afford- 
ing ali the beauty of contrast. 

There is an endless variety of comlji- 
nations to be formed from these beautiful 
art works, the method of making which, 
completely lost during the renaissance 
period, was revived mainly through the 
efforts of Mr. Minton. Aided by the ad- 
mirable designs of Pigin, which were con- 
ceived in a true Gothic spirit, and through 
a long series of experiments, he, at last, 
succeeded in producing them equal, if 
not superior to the old. 

As some description of mediaeval tiles 
may prove interesting, we condense the 
account given of them in the " Oxford 
Glossary." 

There were three styles employed at 
different periods, — those in which the pat- 
tern was represented in cavetto — or Ijy 
means of incised lines, filled in with white 
clay; those having a pattern in relief and 
the field in cavetto, and, lastly, tiles, orna- 
mented with designs in superficial colors. 



I 



A profusion of good examples still exists 
of single tiles, and sets of four, nine, six- 
teen, or a greater number, forming by 
their combination a complete design; but 
examples of general arrangement on a 
large scale are very imperfect. It seems 
certain, liowever, that a large proportion 
of plain tiles, white, black, or red, were 
introduced in longitudinal or diagonal 
bands, to give relief and effect to the 
portions composing the design, and doing 
away with that resemblance to oilcloth, 
apt to result from the continuity of pat- 
tern, which, when spread unbrokenly over 
a large surface, has a confused rather 
than a rich effect. It may also deserve 
notice that in almost every instance when 
ornamental tiles have been accidentally 



discovered or dug up on the site of a 
castle or mansion, there has been reason 
to suj^pose that a consecrated fabric had 
there existed, such as the chapel or ora- 
tory of the edifice. We have also an- 
cient authority for the use of tiles as 
an ornamental dado, decorating the lower 
part of the walls around the altar, and 
also to supj^ly the j^lace of a reredos, 
retro-altar€i or 'post-tahv.la^ or to answer 
the purpose for which hangings of tapes- 
try were commonly used in those days. 
This was a usual method of employing 
them in the old Spanish cathedrals ; 
the designs being in imitation of those 
on the old arras or needle-work hang- 
ings, and usually representing Scripture 
subjects. 



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I 



CHAPTER XI. 



CHRISTIAN EMBLEMS 



The most speaking adornments of Holy 
Church are her emblems ; for although 
her walls, with their symbolic detail, such 
as foliated panels, tri23led mouldings, and 
pointed arches stand before us lasting 
"sermons in stone," the glowing colors 
and gold which decorate her sanctuary, 
unfold to the enlightened eye, like the 
illuminated missals of old, a chronicle of 
her sacred mysteries. Above us shines 
the azure ceiling, powdered with golden 
stars, which sets forth the canopy of 
heaven; while on walls and windows 
emblems of Christ and the Holy Trinity, 
of saints and evangelists, call the mind 
to the contemplation of things eternal. 

Foremost among these sacred symbols 
is the Cross — the emblem of our Re- 
clemjition — which surmounts the altar in 
metal richly wrought, and is embroidered 
upon every vestment and fabric pertain- 
ing to it. It caps the rood-screen, is 



carved on stall ends, is worked into mon- 
ograms, and seems generally to fill an 
esthetic as well as emblematic purpose. 

The forms of the Cross are various, 
but are all based on the primary types 
— the Greek and Latin. The former has 
all its members of the same length, so 
that it can be circumscribed by a circle 
(fig. 1), while the latter has unequal 
limbs, and represents the actual Cross on 
which our Saviour suffered. Hence it is 
called the Calvary Cross. (Fig. 2.) The 
five wounds received by the Saviour at 
His crucifixion, are frequently represented 
by five carbuncles inserted at the extrem- 
ities and centre of the cross. 

The Latin Cross was adopted by the 
Western Christians, while the Greek form 
prevailed throughout the East. From its 
greater idealization it is the one most 
generally used for decorative purposes. 

The Tau Cross (fig. 3) has but three 



172 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



members, and is sii23posed to re23resent 
tlie cross on whicli Moses elevated tlie 
brazen serpent in tlie wilderness. It de- 
rives its name from its resemblance to 
tlie Greek letter T. It is also called 
tlie Anticijjatoiy Cross, and the Cross of 
St. Antliony. 

There are two ecclesiastical crosses (fig. 
4), that with triple beams being devoted 
to the Pope, and that with two, to car- 
dinals and archbishops. 

The Cross of St, Andrew (fig. 5) is 
supposed to bear the shape of that on 
which he suffered martyrdom. 

The Maltese Cross (fig. 6) was borne 
by the Knights of Malta and St. John, 
and the Knights Templars. 

The Cross Pattee (fig. 7) is similar to 
the Maltese Cross, and may have its limbs 
either curved or straight. 

The Cross Boutonnee (fig. 8) has its 
arms trefoiled; and the Cross Fleurie and 
Cross Patonce (figs. 9 and 10) — the most 
beautiful of the Greek type — are used 
most frequently in decorative art. 

The first five of these crosses, being 
severely plain, are sujDposed to set forth 
the sufi^erings of Christ and His Church 
under persecution, while the floriated 



tyj^es are intended to express the Church 
triumphant over its enemies, loved and 
cherished upon earth, growing and fruit- 
yielding like a goodly tree, and spread- 
ing its branches abroad unto all who 
would seek its shelter. 

Next in importance, as they are un- 
doubtedly among the oldest Christian 
symbols, come the mystic expressions and 
monograms of the Holy Trinity. One 
of the most beautiful is the equilateral 
triangle, having each of its sides equal 
in importance and forming a perfect fig- 
ure. (Fig- 11-) This is probably the 
earliest emblem, and is conspicuous in 
the catacombs, graven on the tombstones 
of converts. Another familiar and beauti- 
ful emblem is the trefoil, or shamrock 
(fig. 12), which is said to have been 
adojDted by St. Patrick when preaching 
to the pagan Irish. While attempting 
to convey to their minds some idea of 
the mysterious Godhead, he caught sight 
of the simple shamrock, and pointing 
out to them hoAV there were three per- 
fect leaves, yet together they formed but 
one perfect leaf, he succeeded in making 
the doctrine of the Trinity clear to them. 
Doubtless the good saint little thought 



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tliat tills form Avas thereafter, tliroiigli all 
ages, to 1)6 carved on j^anels and wrought 
into unnumbered window heads. 

Fig. 13 represents a most beautiful and 
intricate monogram of the Trinity. It is 
founded upon the equilateral triangle. 
The circular aureoles at the ano-les con- 
tain the initials of the Latin names of 
the Three Persons, and the centre aure- 
ole, the Avord Deus. The whole inscrip- 
tion reads thus : '■'■Pater non est Filius, 
Films non est S])iritus Sanctus, Spiritus 
SanctiLS non est Pater. Pater est Pens, 
Filius est Deus^ Spiritus Sanctus est DeusP 
That is: "The Father is not the Son, 
the Son is not the Holy Ghost, the Holy 
Ghost is not the Father. The Father is 
God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost 
is God." 

From the earliest ages monograms of 
the Saviour's name have been favorite 
emblems, and, with the exception of the 
cross, have been more frequently employed 
than any other. The cross is, in fact, 
figured with more or less distinctness in 
all of them. The simplest of these (fig. 
14), found in the catacombs at Rome, 
is formed of the first and second letters 
of the Greek name of Christ. Fig. 15 



is the same with the addition of the 
Latin letter N, signifying ^'- noster'''' ; so 
that the monogram, when extended, I'eads, 
" Our Lord Jesus Christ." 

The name of our Lord is frequently 
expressed in Greek by the first and last 
letters of His name together, with the 
sign of contraction placed over them. II 
(fig. 16) stood for Jesus — the / (^iota) 
and I (sigma) being the first and last 
letters of IHIOTI; and, again, XI (fig. 
17) stood for Christ; X {chi) and the 
I {sigma^ being the first and last let- 
ters of xpiiroi. 

The monograms most frequently seen 
(figs. 18, 19), were adopted by Western 
artists from the original Gi'eek ; altering 
the two first and the last letters into 
those of their own country and time, 
forming at the same time their beloved 
cross, by causing the sign of contraction 
to intersect the y^ (eta). 

The most favorite emblem of the Holy 
Spirit is the dove with extended vnngs. 

The emblems of the Passion of our 
Lord set forth His Agony, His Betrayal, 
His Sufferings at the hands of the sol- 
diers, and His Death upon the cross. 

The emblem of the Agony is a chalice 



176 



CHURCH AKCHITECTURE. 



having the Calvary Cross issuing from it, 
or painted on its side. 

There are eio-ht emblems of the Be- 
trayal, namely — the sword, club, lantern, 
torch, ear, rope, thirty pieces of silver, 
and head of Judas, for all of which au- 
thority may be found in the Gospels. 

The emblems of the Sufferings are seven 
• — the basin and ewer used by Pilate, 
the rope, the pillar to which Jesus was 
bound, the scourge, purple robe, crown 
of thorns, and reed. 

The emblems of the Crucifixion are the 
three nails, the hammer, pincers, ladder, 
sponge, reed, spear, inscription, seamless 
garment, and three dice. 

The phoenix is sometimes used as an 
emblem of the Resurrection, and the eagle 
with its wings, flying upward, sets forth 
the Ascension. * 

Baptism is sometimes figured under the 
symbol of a fish — water being the only 
element in which a fish can live. Three 
fishes entwined together in the form of 
a triangle signify that the sacrament of 
baptism is administered in the holy name 
of the Trinity. 

The Holy Evangelists have for their 
symbols the winged ox, Avinged man. 



winged lion, and eagle, corresponding 
with the mystical four beasts mentioned 
in the Revelation of St. John. St. Je- 
rome gives us the following reasons for 
the distribution of these forms to the 
several Evangelists. 

St. Matthew was given the Man be- 
cause he commences his Gospel with the 
human generation of Christ, and dwells 
more upon the human than the Divine 
nature of our Lord. 

St. Mark is symbolized by a Lion, 
because his Gospel sets forth the royal 
dignity of our Lord and His power, as 
manifested in the resurrection ; uj)on which 
St. Mark specially dwells. 

The Ox w^as given to St, Luke, be- 
cause he particularizes the atonement and 
priesthood of our Lord, and the ox is 
the beast of sacrifice. 

The Eagle ])elongs to St. John, because 
as an eagle he soars in the sj^irit to- 
ward the Heaven of heavens to contem- 
plate the Divine nature of Christ, and 
bring back to earth the Revelation of 
those sublime and awful mysteries. 

The emblems of the remaining apostles 
are as follows : 

St. Peter has two keys, supposed to 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



r" 



i i 



be the key of lieaveu and that of hell. 
This emblem is derived from the Avords 
of our Lord to that apostle. (St. Mat- 
thew, xvi. 29.) 

The emblem of St. Paul is a sword, 
the instrument of his martyrdom. He 
was beheaded near Rome. 

The Avell-known Cross of St. Andrew 
is the emblem universally given to that 
apostle. Tradition represents him as hav- 
ing elected to suffer death on a cross 
of that form. 

St. James the Great has a pilgrim's 
staff, scrip, and scallop shell, because he 
was the first of the apostles to go forth 
to foreign lands on the sacred mission 
of conversion. 

The emblem of St. Thomas is a build- 
er's rule — signifying his profession of archi- 
tect. The emblem appears to have orig- 
inated in the following legend : 

" When St. Thomas was at Cesarea, our 
Lord appeared to him and said : ' Gon- 
doforus, king of the Indies, has sent for 
thee — being a man well skilled in archi- 
tecture — to build a palace finer than that 
of the Emperor of Rome. Behold, noAv, 
I will have thee go unto him.' And 
Thomas went, and the king commanded 



him to build a palace, giving him much 
gold and silver therefor. Now the king 
journeyed into a far country, and was 
absent for two years; but St. Thomas, 
instead of building a palace, distributed 
all the treasure among the sick and 
needy. 

" When the king returned he was full 
of wrath ; he cast St. Thomas into prison, 
and meditated how he should put him 
to death. Meantime the king's brother 
died, but on the fourth day the corpse 
suddenly sat upright and said unto the 
king : ' The man whom thou wouldst 
kill, is a servant of God ; behold, I have 
been in Paradise, and the angels showed 
me a wonderful palace of gold and sil- 
ver and precious stones, and they said, 
" This is the palace that the architect 
Thomas hath built for thy brother Gon- 
doforus." 

" When the king heard these words 
he ran to the prison and released the 
apostle ; and Thomas said unto him, 
' Know, O king', that those who would 
possess heavenly things have little care 
for the things of earth. There are in 
heaven glorious palaces without number, 
which are prepared from the beginning 



178 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



of the world for those who purchase 
the possession by faith and charity. Thy 
riches, O king, may prepare the way for 
thee to such a palace, but they cannot 
follow thee thither.'" 

St. James the Less has a club, or bat, 
— the instrument of his martyrdom. 

St. Philip has a cross of the Latin 
type fastened to the end of a long staif 
or reed. He is said to have been cruci- 
fied with his head downward. 

The emblem of St. Bartholomew is 
the reputed instrument of his martyr- 
dom — a large knife of peculiar shape, 
with which he was flayed alive by a 
king of Armenia. 

St. Simon has for his emblem a large 
saw — his martyrdom was supposed to 
have consisted in being sawn asunder. 

St. Matthias is thought to have met 
with his death at the hands of the Jews, 
and has for his emblem an axe. 

The emblems of the lesser saints and 
martyrs, accepted by the English Church, 
would fill too much space; we will, there- 
fore, close by enumerating the symbolic 
colors and stones used in the Church : 

White, the emblem of purity, inno- 
cence, virginity faith, joy, life, and light, 



is used by the Church during the oc- 
tave of Easter, and on the feasts of 
Christmas, the Circumcision, and Epiph- 
any, on the feasts of the blessed Virgin, 
and on the feasts of the saints who were 
not martyrs. White may properly be re- 
presented by silver. 

Red, signifying Divine love, poAver, royal 
dignity, and also blood, and suffering, is 
used at Pentecost, Holy Innocents' Day, 
and on the feasts of the martyrs. 

Blue signifies piety, sincerity, godliness, 
and Divine contemplation. It is not used 
by the Church in draperies, but more 
generally appears in the decoration of 
ceilings ; where, powdered with stars, it 
represents heaven. 

PuEE YELLOW or GOLD signifies bright- 
ness, the goodness of God, and faith. 
Dingy yellow, on the contrary, signifies 
faithlessness and deceit. In art, Judas 
wears a dirty yellow robe, in allusion 
to the betrayal. 

Geeen signifies bountifulness, hope, im- 
mortality, exalted faith, and victory over 
trial and sin. It is used by the Church 
on ordinary Sundays and week-days. 

Violet signifies passion, suffering, sor- 
row, humility, deep love, and truth. It 



is used on Septnagesima, Quinqnagesima, 
Asli-AYednesday, and duiing Lent, Holy 
Week, and Advent. 

Black, sjnnbolical of death, darkness, 
despair, mourning, and sorrow, is used 
by the Chureli on Good-Friday only. 

The precious stones adopted by the 
Church are nine in number, and com- 
prise the diamond, ruby, carbuncle, sar- 
dius, sapphire, topaz, emerald,, amethyst, 
and pearl. They have the same significa- 
tion as the canonical colors they present. 

Fair stand thy walls, O Zion! 

Thou city of our King ; 
Thy courts, set round with jewels, 

With heavenly music ring. 

Topaz and Diamond shineth 

Thy glorious stones among, 
The Ruby and the Emerald, 

The Pearl and Sapphire stone. 



The Topaz, of God's goodness, 
And faith, and truth doth tell ; 

The Diamond symbols purity, 
Joy, life, and light as well. 

The Ruby, royal dignity 

And suffering doth mean ; 
The Emerald, immortality, 

And triumph over sin. 

The Pearl denotes virginity ; 

The Sapphire, godliness ; 
The Carbuncle, our Saviour's wounds, 

And grief, the Amethyst. 

Lastly, the crimson Sardius 
Speaks of God's love divine; 

These are the jewels glorious . 
In Zion's walls that shine. 

Oh, royal City Beautiful ! 

Home of the pure and blest ! 
Fain would we seek within thy gates 

Peace, and eternal rest. 



DESIGN XII. 



The following design contains some 
seven hundred sittings, and is intended 
to be picturesque in outline and liberal 
in internal arrangements, having a spa- 
cious vestibule at the western entrance, 
three alleys, and four ranks of pews. 
The chancel is arranged for a surpliced 
choir, and is surrounded by a number 
of rooms ap23ointed to the use of choir 
and clergy. First in order is the organ 
chamber, which is, perhaps, larger than 
is strictly necessary for containing the 
instrument. This, however, we think a 
good fault, as organ chambers Avhich are 
too cramped not only muffle the sound, 
but, as we have before mentioned, pre- 
vent the organ's being enlarged at a fu- 
ture time. In the present instance it 
gives room for a passage behind the 
organ to the choir-room. The latter com- 
municates with the sacristy by a -pas- 
sage behind the altar, made by j^lacing 
the reredos a little out from the eastern 
wall. 

Opposite the organ Ave have arranged 



a chancel aisle. This occupies the space 
between tower and chancel, and acts as 
an eastern entrance to the church and 
baptistery. One great advantage we claim 
for this feature is in facilitating the re- 
tirement of communicants. Much confu- 
sion is often occasioned by those wishing 
to approach the altar encountering those 
Avho are leaving. At crowded celebra- 
tions this is frequently the cause of seri- 
ous inconvenience and delay. By the 
present arrangement communicants are en- 
abled to approach the altar by the chan- 
cel steps, and, passing to the right, leave 
by the chancel aisle, thus avoiding the 
awkwardness of ojDjDosing crowds. 

The most conspicuous feature of the 
exterior is the tower. Occuj)ying as it 
does a j)roiiiiiient j)<^sition in the view, 
it becomes a central feature of the com- 
position to which the remainder of the 
design acts in graceful subordination. Its 
plain walls are subdued in character, giv- 
ing repose of parts, and, we think, avoid- 
ing that strained ajDpearance w^hich is the 



Plate 25. 



Design 12. 




cenouTj^ pii.^R* 



I I i 1 1 I i 1 M ' ' ' > 



' PHOT O'LITHOSRAPHIC CO. f/ r ( OSBORNE^ PBOCESS I 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



183 



painful result of attempting too great va- 
riety of effect. 

lu this design, as in most of the oth- 
ers, we have entirely avoided buttresses, 
except those flying buttresses which sup- 
port the groined stone ceiling of chancel, 
as described in Chapter I. We have 
already enlarged on the subject of but- 
tresses in Chapter I., but we would here 
speak more particular!}- on the impropri- 
ety of tower buttresses, the necessity for 
which is in no case apparent, their intro- 
duction being due simply to the idea 
of relieving the angles. 

The spire, unlike a vaulted ceiling, of- 
fers no lateral thrust, as the steepness of 
its inclination, together with the broken 
joints of its masonry, j)reclude entirely 
any danger of spreading. 

Again, the buttress suggests the neces- 
sity of support, but this is opposed to 
the very nature of the tower, which is 
in itself a " strong bulwark of defence." 
The same idea has been happily expressed 
by Mr. Ruskin. He says: "But in all 
of them" (that is in towers), "this I 
believe to be a point of chief necessity 



that they shall seem to stand, and shall 
verily stand, in their o^\•n streno-th ; not 
by help of buttresses, nor artful balanc- 
ings on this side and on that. Your 
noble tower must need no help, must 
be sustained by no crutches, must give 
place to no suspicions of decrepitude. Its 
office may Ije to withstand war, look foith 
for tidings, or point to heaven, but it 
must have in its own walls the streno^th 
to do this, it is to be itself a l)ulwark, 
not to be sustained by other bulwarks, 
to rise and look forth — ' the tower of 
Lebanon that looketh toward Damascus ' 
— ^like a stern sentinel — not like a child 
held up in its nurse's arms. A tower 
may, indeed, have a kind of buttress, 
a projection, a subordinate tower at its 
angles, but these are to its massive body 
like the satellites to a shaft, joined with 
its strength, and associated with its up- 
rightness, part of the toAver itself; l)ut 
exactly in the proportion in which they 
lose their massive unity with its body, 
and assume the form of true buttress 
walls set on at its angles, the tower loses 
its dignity." 



LATE 



26 



DeTSICtN 12. 



»ik 




AM. PHOTO-UTHOSRAPHIC CO N Y fOSBORNCS PROCESS- I 



per^jy^^rcTive view. 



i 



, 



i 



CHAPTER XII. 



A PLEA FOR THE CHURCH CATHOLIC. 



There is unfortunately a mistaken im- 
pression on the minds of many worthy 
Christian people, that the present revival 
of ancient rites and ornaments of the 
Church is a leaning toward Rome. We 
hope to do our small part toward ap- 
peasing the suspicions of these tender 
consciences, by proving that it is the 
Church of England, and not the Church 
of Rome, that has re\dved Christian art 
and primitive worship. And as the 
Church of England claims to hold the 
true faith, from which Rome has fallen 
away, so she claims the right to re- 
vive her primitive services and orna- 
ments, which were all in use, it should 
he remembered, in post-reformation days. 

It is true that Rome arrogates to her- 
self the credit of having converted Eng- 
land, but let us see how far ancient 
chronicles corroborate this assertion. St. 
Augustine and his Roman co-lctboreurs 



figured prominently at the court of the 
Christian king Ethelbert, but never fol- 
lowed the example of Christ and the 
disciples in preaching the Gospel to the 
poor, and making converts of the com- 
mon people. As a natural consequence, 
when the pagan Edbald succeeded Eth- 
elbert, Christianity went out of fashion, 
and the Roman bishops who held the 
sees of Canterbury, London, and Roches- 
ter, immediately fled the country, to escape 
the rigors of pagan persecution. Only 
one, St. Lawi'ence, archbishop of York, 
remained, and by his eloquent preaching 
converted Edbald himself 

But meanwhile it was the native mis- 
sionaries from Ireland and Scotland who 
with pious zeal went among the poor, 
bearing the Cross of Christ, and' con- 
verted the people by thousands. Un- 
trained and uneducated, compared with 
the Roman missionaries, they reached the 



188 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



hearts of their hearers, and achieved a 
permanent victory for the Church. 

Then, when by their untiring ministry 
they had prepared the field, and by bold- 
ly facing, conquered the dangers, back 
came the Roman prelates to assume the 
care over sees which had now become 
posts of value and importance. The Scot- 
tish missionaries, true to their character, 
and, like the apostles of old, seeking 
not the glory of this world, modestly 
retired before their haughty rivals, but 
their fame has not been forgotten as the 
men who were in reality the means of 
converting the English people. It is true 
that England for many years owned al- 
lesriance to the Church of Rome, thouo;h 
she eventually joined in the reform move- 
ment, which was the spontaneous protest 
of human nature against the corruption 
and overweening arrogance of Rome, and 
gladly returned to the worship of the 
primitive Church. 

This primitive worship, it must be re- 
membered, is not to be confounded with 
the novel and heretical views of the Lu- 
theran or Calvinistic bodies, neither does 
it owe anything to Rome. We take a 
deep interest at the present day in ana- 



lyzing and tracing to its elementary stages 
a scientific discovery, but how far greater 
should be the interest we feel in follow- 
ing back to its first sources the Liturgy 
of our beloved Church. We cannot, un- 
less we do this, successfully refute preju- 
dices and false conceptions of the au- 
thority on which we act in reviving rites 
and ornaments which unhappily have been 
long buried in unmerited obscurity. It is 
true that such prejudiced men as Hooper 
and Baxter maintained, each in his day, 
that art and beauty should be ban- 
ished from the Church, and her rites 
robbed of their impressive features and 
doctrinal weight, but they never succeed- 
ed in making their innovations legal. 

As far back as the year 1085, the 
English cathedrals had each a service 
book of its own, called a Use, as the 
Use of Hereford; the Use of Exeter. The 
most famous of these was the Use of 
Sarum (the ancient Salisbury), drawn up 
and arranged by Osmund, bishop of that 
see, and Chancellor of England. This 
gradually became a model for all other 
English churches, and the manual of the 
good bishop has at the present day 
been again referred to as authority in 



reviving the primitive observances of the 
Church. 

King Edward VI., of glorious memory, 
in 1549, the second year of his reign, 
caused the first Book of Common Prayer 
in the English tongue to be comi:)iled, 
and it cannot but lend the present book 
a deeper interest to know that it differs 
but slightly from the first ever printed. 
The forms of the Sarum Use were close- 
ly followed, making the new book purely 
Anglican, and not Romish, as claimed by 
the Puritans then and in later years. In 
the preface it is stated that " the objects 
its compilers had in view were, that all 
the realm shoidd have but one Use, that 
nothing should be contained therein but 
the very j^ure Word of God, the Holy 
Scriptures, or that which was evidently 
founded upon the same, and that all 
should be in English." 

The services in the first book vary 
from the present chiefly in arrangement ; 
the principal rubrical differences being 
in the Communion Office. These are, a 
prayer for the sanctification of the Ele- 
ments by the Holy Spirit, and the first 
clause only being used of the sentences 
now said on distributing the Body and 



Blood ; also a rubric directing the mix- 
ing of water with the wine. The Ex- 
hortation, Confession, and Comfortable 
Words were added at this time. 

However, owing to the influence of 
Hooper and other reformed divines, who 
shared rather the destructive and level- 
ling ideas of Calvin and Knox than those 
nobler feelings Avhich lead us to resjiect 
and honor the ordinances of Holy Mother 
Church, this first Prayer Book was no 
sooner published, than an outcry was 
raised for its alteration. A committee 
was appointed to deliberate upon the 
subject, which took pains to let it be 
known that though they were desirous 
of making any changes " which might 
render the book more earnest, and fit 
for the stirring up of all Christian j)eo- 
ple to the honoring of Almighty Grod," 
yet they in nowise intended condemning 
the doctrines of the first book. And King 
Edward declared by his Second Act of 
Uniformity, that it had contained nothing 
but what was agreeable to the Word of 
God, and the primitive Church ; and such 
doubts as had been raised in the use 
thereof proceeded rather from bigotry and 
prejudice than from any worthy cause. 



190 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



This revision was deliberated upon long 
and earnestly, and it was not until 1552, 
tliat tlie second Prayer Book was pub- 
lished and used in churches. The chief 
alterations made were in the daily prayer 
— the Introductory sentences. Exhortation, 
General Confession, and Absolution be- 
ing placed at the beginning of the ser- 
vice. The Decalogue and Responses were 
added to the Communion office, the sign 
of the cross and mixture of water with 
the wine omitted, and the long prayer 
of consecration divided into the praj^er 
for the Church Militant, the prayer of 
Consecration, and the first prayer after 
Communion. 

The rubric concerning vestments and 
ornaments now ordered that neither alb, 
chasuble, tunicle, stole, or cope should 
be used, and the j^i'iest should wear only 
a surplice; while the altar lights were 
forbidden entirely. The latter alterations 
were inserted to jilease the Puritan fac- 
tion; and herein we cannot but feel that 
Edward, though a pious and worthy 



prince, was too apt to be unduly in- 
fluenced and "blown about by every 
wind of doctrine." 

When Elizabeth came to the throne, 
she, although a Protestant monarch, had 
no sympathy with Puritan intolerance, 
and by her Act of Uniformity (A.D. 
1559), restored all the vestments and 
ornaments of Edward's second year (1549, 
previous to the revision of the Prayer 
Book).* The use of plain song, or in- 
toning, was restored at the same time. 

The last revision of the Prayer Book 
took place soon after the restoration of 
Charles II. This monarch on his arrival 
in England was imj)ortuned by the Puri- 
tans, first, not to restore the Prayer Book 
at all (it having been proscribed by 
Cromwell), and then, to make large alter- 
ations. He acceded to the last demand 
only so far as to consent that a council 
of bishops and an equal number of their 
opponents should meet to confer on the 
propriety of changes being made. This 
council, — called the Savoy Conference, — 



* " And here it is to be noted that such ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers thereof, at all times of their Min- 
istration, shall be retained and be in use, as were in this Church of England, by the authority of Parliament, in the second 
year of King Edward the Sixth. And the chancels shall remain as in times past." 

This quotation from the Act of Uniformity is printed in the English Prayer Book, before the order for Daily Morning 
Prayer. 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



191 



lasted some four months, during which 
time all the matters in dispute were 
fully discussed, but rather than yielding 
in any essential point, the bishops main- 
tained the action of Elizabeth almost to 
the letter. The whole work was sj)eed- 
ily completed, and in 1661 the Book of 
Common Prayer was adopted by both 
Houses of Convocation. An Act of Uni- 
formity i^assed the House of Lords April 
9th, and received the royal assent May 
19, 1662. 

We cannot but respect the first re- 
formers, and agree that they purified the 
Chm'ch of great abuses, but we hard- 
ly think the boast of their Puritan des- 
cendants, that they have returned to the 
pristine form of worship, can be main- 
tained. We think more credit, perha2:)s, 
should be given to the Chui'ch ; which, 
while scrupulously avoiding all supersti- 
tious customs or ceremonies, seeks only 
to restore the grand and solemn services 
which our forefathers enjoyed, and a due 
regard and reverence for the great relig- 
ious truths which they venerated. 

Unfortunately for us, although the au- 
thority of the ancient rubrics and the 
Act of Uniformity were confirmed in the 



time of Charles II., the leaven of Puri- 
tanism had worked, perhaps, to an ex- 
tent unsuspected by the very men who 
were influenced by it; while, at the same 
time, the social condition of the great 
body of clergy was incredibly low, and 
little suited to win back the regard of 
masses more deeply impregnated with the 
Puritan bigotry. And the upper classes 
were dissolute to a degree which we 
can scarcely conceive of as possible in 
connection with education and refinement. 
Although such great men as BaiTow, Til- 
lotson, Beveridge, and Stillingfleet, were 
by their eloquence delighting the court, 
and forcing even the Duke of Bucking- 
ham to admire and respect them, the 
mass of the clergy were in a condition 
little better than the veriest boors. The 
country parson usually was compelled to 
drive the plough, and feed the pigs, on 
his glebe, in order to make both ends 
meet; his stipend was about j620 a year; 
his library consisted of half a dozen dog's- 
eared volumes, thrust on a shelf among 
the pots and pans; his very church was 
a dilaj)idated little edifice, shorn of its 
ancient glories of stained glass and carved 
woodwork, besmeared with whitewash, and 



192 



CHUKCH ARCHITECTURE. 



the greater part of tlie cliaucel used as 
a convenient store-house for coals and lit- 
ter. The ancient font had in all prob- 
ability been stuck there in Puritan times 
among the other rubbish, and there it 
remained ; the organ was gone, and a 
" singing loft " alone supj)lied its place. 
The parson had neither time nor means, 
even if he had the inclination, to make 
these things better, while his dissipated 
superiors were too full of the concerns 
of this world to care a button whether 
it were possible to carry out the services 
accordina: to the rubrics in such a build- 
ino; or no. " Church and Kino- and down 
with the Rump ! " was an admirable party 
cry, but as to how much real feeling for 
the Church, except as it was opposed to 
Puritanism, lay behind it, we think is a 
question ; and how was it possible for a 
clergyman to possess influence, whose wife, 
as Macaulay tells us, was usually a ser- 
vant girl, and his children brought up to 
servitude, and who, when he filled the of- 
fice of chaplain to some drunken country 
squire, was always expected to work in 
the kitchen-garden, carry messages and par- 
cels like any footman, and leave the din- 
ner-table before the dessert came on? 



It is doubtless to this state of things, 
and later on, the Presbyterian atmosphere 
of the court of William of Orange, and 
the utter heartlessness and want of any- 
thing like a religious spirit in the Geor- 
gian era, that we owe the gradual aban- 
donment of those ceremonies and orna- 
ments pro]3erly belonging to the Church. 
To use the words of a popular writer, 
speaking of the latter period : " The age 
was singularly void not only of religion 
Ijut of all spirituality of mind or refer- 
ence to things unseen. * * * They had 
some j^agan virtues, amid the perpetual 
flutter of talk and dissipation ; one was 
a good father, another a good son, a 
third a most loyal and tender wife, yet 
it is as clear as daylight that the thought 
of God was not in them. They were 
godless, earthly, worldly ; without con- 
sciousness of anything more in heaven 
or earth than was dreamed of in their 
jDhilosophy. It was one of the moments 
in which the world had fallen out of 
the knowledge of God. Other ages may 
have been as wicked, but we doubt 
whether any age had learned so entire- 
ly to forget its connection with higher 
things, or the fact that a soul which 



did not die Avas within its clay. The 
good men were inoperative, the l)ad men 
dauntless ; the vast erowd between the 
two, which forms the l)nlk of human- 
ity, felt no stimulus toward religion, and 
drowsed in comfortable content. The 
clergyman M'ould lend a helping hand 
to carry my lord to bed after he had 
dro2)ped under the tal)le, and turn a 
deaf ear to the l)lasphemies with wdiicli 
his speech Avas adorned." 

Indeed, the reverend gentleman him- 
self miglit not unfrequently be seen in 
liquor, betting on the race-course, or wit- 
nessing a cock-fight ; and a rector wht) 
could hastily don his surplice over scar- 
let coat, and top-boots, and hurry i3ell- 
mell through a service, which he regard- 
ed as an unnecessary bore, keej)ing him 
most unconscionably from the hunting-field, 
was not the man to stick at mangling 
the service on any occasion. Bishop Bur- 
net made the remark in 1713: "I have 
observed the clergy of all denominations 
in the places tbrougli which I have trav- 
elled — Papists, Lutherans, Calvinists, and 
other dissenters — and our clergy are, al)Ove 
all, much the most remiss in their la- 
Ijors. and the least severe in their lives." 



"A due regard to religious persons, places, 
and thhigs, has scarce in any age been 
more Axantiug," says Dr. Atterbury, an- 
other famous divine. 

It is no wonder, Avith such aj^athy as 
bound the Church hand and foot dur- 
ing this debased period, that sectarian- 
ism should liaA^e flourished apace, and 
gained a Avide-spread influence OA^er the 
popular mind. Of the Church, indeed, 
it may truly l;)e said that she AA^as actu- 
ally in a loAver condition than before 
the Reformation. People neglected her 
noAV formal, lifeless services, and flocked 
in crow^ds to folloAV the Wesleys, in 
Avhose ferAdd preaching and animated 
hymns they found the living interest 
their souls desired. While Whitfield was 
preaching to the poor grimy colliers, and 
Wesley A^ainly trpng to get a hearing 
from the puljjit, prelates and clergy 
looked coldly on, and closed the church 
doors against the too ferA^d preachers. 
If this had not been the case, if the 
Church had listened to him, Wesley 
Avould have become her reformer, instead 
of the founder of a sect, for Ave read 
that he Avas in his youth a strict High 
Churchman. 



194: 



■CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



While studying at Oxford, he became 
spiritual director of a body of young 
men whom Charles Wesley had formed 
into a brotherhood to practise those 
works of charity and faith neglected by 
the careless, heartless Churchmen of the 
day. Many a poor, starving creature, and 
inmate of a gaol looked forward as their 
sole comfort to the visits of the brother- 
hood, the only persons who showed com- 
passion for them, or told them of the in- 
finite mercy of God for all who repent. 

If only the same earnest spirit had 
existed generally among the bishops and 
clergy of that day, we should now see 
a very different state of affairs from the 
Church enfeebled, and her influence com- 
paratively weak, while sectarianism and 
rationalism are rampant. The only way 
to prevent the spread of dissent is to 
offer something more attractive and stim- 
ulating. The real reason, we think, of 
the Church losing her adherents is to 
be found in the utterly cold, humdrum, 
unsympathetic character of her services, 
and the want of more active proselytiz- 
ing among the poor. The sects send 
emissaries among the neglected lower 
classes, gather the children into ragged 



schools, induce the elders to join in 
their meetings, where enthusiastic preach- 
ing and joyful hymns warm and excite 
the hearts of those to whom the ser- 
vices of the Church, as too generally 
conducted, appear but cold, lifeless ab- 
stractions. We saw the statement made 
not long ago, in a Church j)aper, that 
there were between four and five hun- 
dred clergy in this country at present 
without parishes, or any work in the 
Church. Now let some of these unem- 
ployed divines form themselves into com- 
munities, go into this wide field where 
" the harvest truly is great, but the la- 
borers few," get up free-seated places of 
worship, and they will soon have work 
in plenty. Look at the success of the 
mission churches in London, unendowed, 
situated in the poorest parts of the city, 
yet well supported by the poor, who 
gladly throng to their altars, till not 
even standing-room can be found soon 
after the commencement of any one of 
their numerous services. There is no lack 
of real, much-needed work to be done — 
no necessity for a young divine to wait 
for a fashionable parish before he be- 
gins to be about his Father's business. 



Not so did tlie clergy hesitate about 
engagiug in tlie good work during the 
early days of the Colonial Church. It 
is a remarkable fact, that surrounded as 
they were by difficulties, without a bish- 
oj), closely watched and annoyed by im- 
jilacable Puritan enemies, the pioneers of 
the American Church should have shown 
the earnest and truly catholic sjDirit they 
undoul)tedly disj^layed. Daily services, 
strict observance of fasts and festivals, 
and anxiety to obtain correct embellish- 
ments and Communion plate from the 
mother country, all attest their practical, 
working piety. We also find a marked 
appreciation for the appropriate naming 
of their churches — a j^oint too often ig- 
nored at the present day. Thus, the 
church at Burlington, N. J., was called 
St. Mary's, from the circumstance of its 
having been commenced on Lady-Day — 
a day sacred to the memory of the an- 
nunciation of Our Blessed Saviour to the 
Yii-gin Mary ; and another is named St. 
Paul's, because it was dedicated on the 
vio-il of the festival of St. Paul's conver- 
sion. The early preachers spoke of the 
Church of England as " the ancient motli- 
er " of the j)eople, and exhorted all who 



had wandered away to return to her 
bosom. All this may not seem a great 
work, yet, considering the drawbacks un- 
der which our forefathers labored, it is 
astonishing not that they did so little, 
but that we, with all our advantages 
and blessings, should not do a hundred- 
fold more. 

Now, in support of our first argument, 
that it is the Church of England, and 
not the Church of Rome, which has re- 
vived Christian art, a quotation from an 
English writer ^vill be appropriate : 

" The Romanist boasts that it was 
the Papacy which revived the arts ; — why 
could it not sustain them when it was 
left to its own strength ? How came it 
to yield to the classicalism which was 
based on infidelity, and to oppose no 
barrier to innovations which have reduced 
the once faithfully-conceived imagery of 
its worship to the level of mere stage 
decoration ? Shall we not rather find 
that Romanism, instead of being a pro- 
moter of the arts, has never shown it- 
self cajDable of a single great concej^tion 
since the Reformation ? So long as — cor- 
rupt though it might be — no clear wit- 
ness had been borne against it, so that 



196 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



it still numbered in its ranks a vast 
number of faithful Christians, so long 
its arts were noble. But the witness 
was borne, the error made apparent, and 
Rome, refusing to hear the testimony or 
forsake the falsehood, has been struck 
from that instant with an intellectual 
palsy, which has incapacitated her from 
any further use of the arts which once 
were her ministers." 

Surely no one can have entered a 
modern Roman Catholic church, without 
being struck by the tawdry, theatrical 
character of the altar, and its surround- 
ings — so different from the grave magnif- 
icence and dignified splendor of a chan- 
cel, arranged in accordance with the true 
spirit of Christian art. All is meretri- 
cious show, where painted wood and 
plaster mimic costly marbles and bronzes, 
while of the surroundino-s of the altar, 
calico and spangles, wax dolls, artificial 
flowers, lace, ribbons, sham jewels, and 
flimsy finery form the component j^arts. 
Chancel they have none, the altar stands 
out into the nave ; proper furniture they 
have none; the floor inside the altar-rail 
is covered by a gay, flowered carpet, 
such as you may see on any hotel par- 



lor, and a few velvet-covered parlor chairs 
complete the arrangements of the sanctu- 
ary. Not the least resemblance does this 
picture bear, surely, to a projDcrly ap- 
pointed Anglican chancel. 

The ornaments — which we find were 
sanctioned by the rubrics of Edward VI.'s 
second year, and the statute of Elizabeth 
— are the antependium, or frontal of the 
altar, and the superfrontal, made of silk, 
cloth, or velvet, in the canonical colors, 
and adorned "with fringe, or lace and 
eml^roidery. The altar - lights — signifying 
that Christ is the lio-ht of the world — 
the altar -cross, the " fair white linen 
cloth " — covering the top of the altar 
only, not the front^ but hanging over 
at the ends nearly to the foot-pace — one 
service book on a brass stand, and an 
"altar -card" (containing the Prayer of 
Consecration), were the ordinary appoint- 
ments. Flowers in their season have been 
sanctioned Ijy the late judgment in the 
Purchas case, before the Court of Arches, 
but in the case of Martin vs. Mackono- 
chie. Sir R. Phillimore pronounced against 
the altar-lights, and, therefore, we would 
not advise their use in this country. 

A great misunderstanding seems to pre- 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



107 



vail with reo-ard to the "fair linen cloth." 
It has generally been the custom to 
smother the altar in a huge cloud of 
damask, after the manner of a dining- 
table, while the consecrated vessels in 
the centre, and the alms -basin, placed 
leaning against the reredos, give much 
the effect of a sideboard set out with 
the lamily plate. The ancient custom we 
deem preferable, of having a small shelf 
or stand, called a credence, placed on the 
north side of the chancel, on which to 
aiTange the chalice, paten, flagon, perfo- 
rated spoon, etc., so that the priest may 
at the proper moment, according to the 
rubric, "reverently place on the altar as 
much bread and wine as he shall think 
sufiicient " — a rubric Avhich it is imjios- 
sible to obey so long as the present 
slovenly and incorrect arrangement is suf- 
fered to exist. 

Although we can see no objection to 
a cross surmounting the altar, yet we 
cannot aj)prove of a crucifix. The cross 
is the ideal emblem of our Lord's Pas- 
sion, — to carve a figure of Him seems 
too o;reat a materialization of a sacred 
mysteiy. Any attempt of this kind must 
needs fall short of presenting the reality 



to our eyes, and all that is achieved is 
a painful and too literal delineation of 
an agonized frame, calculated to inspire 
rather distress and aversion in the be- 
holder than any i)ious elevation of feel- 
ing. Besides, although we 1)elieve that 
our Blessed Lord still intercedes for us 
with His Father, yet we know that when 
His life was yielded uj) uj^on the cross, 
" He made there l)y His one oblation 
of Himself once offered, a full, perfect, 
and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and sat- 
isfaction, for the sins of the whole world, 
and now reigns in glory everlasting," — 
so that to " crucify Him afresh," even 
in carven stone, seems like a contradic- 
tion of Scripture truth. Even the cross 
when used should be of the floriated, 
or decorated type — the cross triumj^hant, 
not the cross of suflPering — both of which 
are described in Chapter XL It should 
never be forgotten that in Gothic every 
emblem and ornament has a symbolic 
meaning and an a23propriate place. 

We cannot but be reminded by the 
presence of images, however sacred, of 
the way in Avhich these were al)used, 
and made a means of the grossest im- 
position by the priests of Kome during 



198 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



the middle ages. So long ago as 1538, 
one of these was detected by an Eng- 
lishman named Nicholas Partrige, of the 
town of Boxley. The rood, or crucifix, 
over the chancel-screen in Boxley Church 
had long been famous throughout Eng- 
land as a most miraculous image, and 
thousands came from every part to be- 
hold it. If the gift offered by one of 
its worshippers hajjpened to be a small 
piece of silver, the image would hang 
a pouting lip and shake its head, but 
if the gift were gold, then the image 
goggled its eyes, nodded its head, and 
grinned at the giver. But lo and be- 
hold ! one fine day worthy Master Nich- 
olas Partrige made the astounding dis- 
covery that inside the rood a hundred 
wires were concealed, by pulling which, 
all the miraculous movements were ef- 
fected. The ^vretched imposture was torn 
down by the populace, and afterward 
taken to London and exhibited at Paul's 
Cross. Astonishment, rage, and mortifi- 
cation at having been deceived filled the 
minds of the good people of London ; 
a great outcry was raised, and the image 
was pulled to pieces and destroyed. Hap- 
pily for our country, the spread of public 



education renders it impossible that a 
cheat of this kind could be practised 
here ; but in Italy, where the people are 
purposely kept in ignorance by the Church 
of Rome, winking pictures, nodding stat- 
ues, bones of saints endowed Math mirac- 
ulous healing powers, and other equally 
ridiculous treasures are exhibited, and be- 
lieved in with a credulity perfectly mar- 
vellous. 

An undue and undeserved reproach 
has in our own day been attached to 
the name Catholic. The title of the 
Church Catholic, that in which we pro- 
fess in our Creed to believe, is not, nor 
ever can be, properly given to the Church 
of Rome alone. To quote the words of 
a distinguished ecclesiastic, "it is an ep- 
ithet which is applied to the Universal 
Church in its three unhappy divisions of 
Greek, Latin, and Anglican. You could 
not say baldly of any of these that it 
is the Catholic Church, but together they 
make wp the Catholic Church. And, 
again, each is catholic in projjortion to 
the fidelity with which it adheres to 
what in days of visible unity was or- 
dained by the whole Church." 

We may congratulate ourselves on liv- 



CHURCPI ARCHITECTURE. 



10<) 



iug in a day wlien tlie catholicity of 
tlie Ano'licau Cbnreli is heo-iniiiiio; to he 
recognized as tlie vital principle of her 
l^ein^, and at the same time the Ions: 
degradation of ecclesiastical art is pass- 
ing away, and the world has found out, 
in a measure, that a whitewashed wall 
is not synonymous with a pure worshijD 
of God. 

And to look on the other side also, 
Avhat is this Protestantism of which we 
are so proud ? Ai-e we to judge it by 
its fi'uits ? and, if so, have not some of 
these been discord, endless division, and 
cold carelessness in worship? We are 
not advocating any new views in using 
these words, for even so long as thirty 
years ago the Bishop of the Diocese of 
New York, in one of his pastorals, after 
some allusion to the state of the Roman 
Chui'ch, sj)oke as follows : 

" And what shall we say of the coun- 
ter-cause — Protestantism ? Riven to its 
centre with internal dissensions ; covering 
with its name every variety of schism, 
and every bold and wicked innovation of 
heresy, forming an unholy alliance with 
the veriest infidelity, while beguiling un- 
stable souls by adopting the watchwords 



of Protestant liberty, the glorious privi- 
leges of private judgment and anathema 
on the corruptions of Popery, it is wast- 
ing its energies on internal strife, arrang- 
ing its votaries in deadly feud against 
each other, and thus strengthening the 
hand and ministering to the triumphs of 
the Papal power it would cripple and 
subdue. Brethren, is not this a lament- 
ably true picture of the Protestant cause? 
"For we must remember Protestant is 
but a negative term. It implies no prin- 
ciple but that of dissent. Let who will, 
or let what sect mil protest against Pop- 
ish corruptions, he, or it, thereby becomes 
Protestant, no matter on what principles 
or in favor of what principles the pro- 
test is made. This is daily acted out. 
The rejection of Christ's priesthood, the 
rejection of His sacraments, every species 
of schismatic organization, every kind of 
erroneous and strange doctrine contrary 
to God's word, every grade of heresy, 
is called by tlie name of Protestant, is 
Protestant, and vaunts itself as the legit- 
imate result of the great privilege of 
private judgment and the bounden duty 
of casting off the degrading and sinful 
yoke of Papal despotism. 



200 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



" Bretlireii ! unwelcome as such truths 
may be, hostile as they may be to fa- 
vorite theories and mortifying to honest- 
ly cherished sensibilities, still they are 
truths. It were vain, worse than vain, 
to bliud our eyes to them. The true 
course is to look them full in the face, 
and endeavor Ijy God's help to draw from 
them what may tend to His glory, the 
good of His Church, and man's spiritual 
and eternal Avelfare. Mere Protestantism 
is no efficient bond of union. It may 
be as far removed from the Gospel as 
Popery itself. 

" Is it not, then, time that this fallacy 
should be exj^osed and denounced ? Ought 
not Christians to be brouo;ht to see that 
the religious system with which Christ 
and His apostles blessed the world is 
not characterized by mere Protestantism, 
but as scriptural and primitive Catholic- 
ity ; that, therefore, the true blessings of 
the Reformation are not to be found in 
mere departure from Rome, but in re- 
turn to Christ, to the principles, faith, 
and order of His one Holy Catholic 
and Apostolic Church ? " 

A great outcry has been raised of 
late years against what its opponents are 



pleased to call Ritualism, and loud calls 
uj^on our bishoj^s to check its progress. 
Now, we are far from upholding any 
useless ceremonial, or unauthorized orna- 
ment, but neither do we wish to con- 
demn. We prefer letting the whole mat- 
ter alone, " for if this counsel or this 
work be of men, it will come to naught; 
but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow 
it." We agree with the vieM^s of the 
Protestant Clmwcliman on this matter, 
where it says : " It is not easy to see 
Avhat the bishops can do effectually to 
curb it. Even if these excesses were 
clearly of a character and of a measure 
of aggravation to warrant episcopal dis- 
cij^line, past and current history do not 
cause us to be enamoured of the exercise 
of irresponsible power by the bishop. It 
is true the last general convention left 
the regulation of this matter of ritual 
Avith the ordinary. But if that author- 
ity Avere arbitrarily exercised, especially 
AA^here the practices in question are com- 
mon, it Avould 23robably do more injury 
to the bishop's personal and official po- 
sition than good to the Church. It is a 
lesson AA^e must all learn, and the sooner 
we learn it the better, that Americans 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



201 



are to be ruled hy influence rather than 
arbitrary discipline. We want Ubei't>j in 
this Church, not proscription. Eitlier the 
Church must be divided, or its two his- 
toric schools must be left to their o^vn 
free development." 

And, in all candor and fairness, it can- 
not but be admitted that the Catholic 
party have some grounds on which to 
base theii' practice, namely, the Acts of 
Uniformity under Charles, Elizabeth, and 
Edward YI., sanctionino- and leo-alizino; 
the rubrics and ornaments of 1549. 

We find similar ceremonial-usao;es and 
vestments in that ancient ecclesiastical 
body — the Greek Church ; which is quite 
independent of the Bishop of Rome. They 
rear the cross on their altars, and place 
beside it the altar-lights. The very vest- 
ments prescribed by the rubric of Ed- 
ward's first book, the alb, chasuble, cope, 
biretta, and surplice, are all in use; in- 
toning by the priests and chanting by 
a vested choir are practised. Their chan- 
cels have rood-screens, and the altar and 
credence-table, under different .names, and 
somewhat differently vested, yet mth equal 
magnificence, stand in similar j)laces as 
with us. The Greeks keep Lent for eight 



weeks with extraordinary severity, living 
for the greater part on vegetables alone. 
A fe^v devout Churchmen among ourselves 
are accustomed to take the Holy Eucha- 
I'ist fasting, l)ut in the Greek Church this 
pious custom is universal. Their priests 
are under the control of archbishops and 
other bishops, and their churches, of 
course, are consecrated, but in a much 
more elaborate manner than ours. Thus 
Ave see that stately ceremonial and ritual 
observances are not, by any means, ex- 
clusively the badge of the Church of 
Rome, inasmuch as the Greek Church, 
which for centuries has been the strong- 
est enemy of the Papacy, upholds a rit- 
ual system far more strict and elaborate 
than her sister Church in England. 

It is matter for congratulation, that in 
this our day the true position of the 
Greek Church — the Church which " led 
the way in ojDposing the un-catholic as- 
sumptions of the Poj)e of Rome, which 
has preserved the ancient discij)line and 
kept the Creed intacV — is beginning to 
be recognized, and efforts are being made 
toward joining with her in the "com- 
munion of saints." To quote the words 
of an Eno-lish writer: "The cause of 



202 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



Almiglity God, the cause of the universal 
Chui'ch, the privileges and rights of bish- 
ops and priests as against one universal 
Pope, are borne witness to now, as they 
have ever been, by the immutable East. 
Here, at least, are no sym2Dathies with 

the heresiarchs of the sixteenth century, 

I 
— the synod of Bethlehem has anathema- 
tized Luther and Calvin as decidedly as 
the Council of Trent. Here was no Hen- 
ry VIH., fixing his supremacy on a re- 
luctant Church by the axe, the gibbet, 
and the laws of praemunire and forfeit- 
ure, — no State using that Church as a 
cat's-paw for three hundred years, and 
ready now to offer it up as a holocaust 
to the demon of liberalism. Here is the 
ancient patriarchal system, — the thrones 
of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, 
and Jerusalem subsisting still. Here is 
the same body of doctrine, * * * the 
same mighty sacramental and sacerdotal 
system, which Latitudinarian and Evan- 
gelical, statesman and heretic, dread, while 
they hate — as being the visible presence 
of Christ in a fallen world — the residence 
of a spiritual power which controls and 
torments the worldling, while it disproves 
and falsifies the heretic. 



" In the Fathers of the undivided 
Church, the East and the North, so 
long severed, meet. We are not alone, 
who have with us, on the very j^oint 
which divides us fi'om our mother Church, 
the still unbroken line of successors from 
St. Athanasius and St. Chrysostom. 

" We fight, it must be admitted, at 
disadvantage with our opponents. The 
long subjection which our Church yield- 
ed to Rome, ^' ^' * the complete unset- 
tling of the ecclesiastical and doctrinal 
system in the sixteenth century, * * * 
the connection with those whose doctrine 
has now worked itself out into Socinian- 
ism, infidelity, and anarchy, the inability 
we have ever since been under of shak- 
ing ourselves clear of them, the thorough- 
ly unsatisfactory position of the State to- 
ward us as a Church at present — all 
these things are against us— all these 
things tell on the mind which really 
lives and dwells on antiquity, and looks 
to the pure Apostolic Church. Still, 
though they weaken, they do not over- 
come our cause. But from all these ob- 
jections the -witness of the Eastern Church 
is free. They were never subject to 
Rome, but to their own patriarchs ; they 



derived uot tlieir Christianity from her, 
but slie fi'om them. The iniesthood, aud 
the pure, uuhloody sacrifice, and the 
power to T)iud and to kx^se, remain un- 
disputed among them ; the Eastern mind 
cannot conceive a Church ^vithout them. 
They have received no reformation from 
those whose lives were a scandal to all 
Christian men ; they are not mixed up 
•with the Lutheran or Calvinistic heresy, 
nor has Erastianism eaten out their life. 
If they are schismatics, as the Church 
of Kome pretends, so are we, and on 
the same grounds. 

"The Eastern Church has put forth 
the most convincing sign of Catholicity 
■ — life. To her is due the most remark- 
able conversion of a great nation to the 
faith that has taken i:ilsice in the last 
eight hundred years. Kussia * * '^ is a 
witness of the Greek Church, that she 
is a true member of the One Body. 
Rome cannot show, since she was divid- 
ed from the East, a conversion on so 
large a scale, so complete, so permanent. 
And on that great mass she has hith- 
erto made no impression. * * * And 
this body, like ourselves, denies that par- 
ticular Roman claim for which Rome 



would have them and us to be schis- 
matics. And it has denied it not mere- 
ly for three hundred years, but from tlie 
time that it was advanced. Truly, all 
that was deficient on our side seems 
made up l)y the Greek Church." 

Holding, then, the true Catholic faith, 
in common Avith our brethren of the 
Eastern Church, let us emulate them in 
conductino- the service of the altar with 
due solemnity and mao-nificence, and make 
it our pride to adorn God's house with 
all the splendor we can afford, — instead 
of, like the Puritan, j^iquing ourselves 
on a cheap, ugly church, and a barren, 
unadorned service. Rather should we 
seek to offer the best of His gifts to 
the Almighty, than dwell in fine houses 
ourselves, replete with every luxury that 
lavish expenditure can procure, while a 
desolate looking church, and shabby, bar- 
ren altar are thought good enough for 
God ! A truly catholic spiiit will pre- 
fer a plainly furnished house, and a 
church beautified to the fullest extent. 

It may not be amiss to C[Uote in this 
connection the spirited, if, perhaps, some- 
what radical, remarks of an eminent Eng- 
lish divine. He says : " If ever an evil 



204 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



spirit lias aj)pearecl on this eartli of such 
a character as to put men out of j)a- 
tience with its inconsistencies and absurd- 
ities, that spirit is Puritanism. Already 
has this powerful and remorseless agent 
directed more than one Quixotic foray 
against art, and even now it has power 
enough to fill the minds of multitudes 
with fears and prejudices more potent 
than all the holy persuasions of a Fra 
Angelico; cheating them into giving up 
the fairest thino;s of all their heritag-e, 
stripj)ing religion of all the beautiful gar- 
ments in which the Almighty clothed her, 
and maintaining that she appears to bet- 
ter advantage in the beggarly style of 
a pauper than in her own proper robes 
of royal state. O Puritanism ! Puritan- 
ism ! Thou that abhorrest pictures and 
flowers, stained glass and altar cloths ! 
Thou that lovest whitewash and blank 
hard-finish ! Thou that eschewest what- 
ever can move the senses or appeal to 
the imaginative faculty ! With what 
amazement shalt thou hereafter discern 
the glories of the heavenly city — the new 
Jerusalem ! With what unutterable feel- 
ings shalt thou find thyself passing in 
through the gates of pearl, and travers- 



ing the streets of pure gold ! With what 
a 23uzzled and incredulous stare shalt thou 
regard the walls of precious stones, the 
jaspers clear as crystal, the sapphires, the 
chalcedonies, the tojDaz ! How wilt thine 
eyes be dazzled with the unfamiliar light 
as of jewels, and transparent glass, and 
crystal ! In the midst of the golden al- 
tars, and the choirs robed in white and 
crowned with gold, and the angels with 
rainbow colors around their heads, what 
shall be thy feelings ? What shall be 
thy thoughts when recalling thy former 
babbling about the incompatibility of pur- 
ity in religion, and outward splendor in 
Divine Avorship ? Wilt thou even the)i 
be unwilling to confess thyself in the 



1 



wrono; '. 



? " 



And we may rest assured that in prop- 
erly adorning the sanctuary, we are fol- 
lomno; the commandment of God Himself. 
We know that He gave minute directions 
for the building of the temple with the 
utmost sj)lendor. And if it was obli- 
gatory on the Jews, when they had only 
the partial revelation of His grace, how 
much more is it binding on us, who 
have received from the first the highest 
manifestation of His goodness and favor 



toward us. Because tlie uubelieviug Jews 
would give tlie promised Messiali when 
He came amonff them no better lod2:ino- 
than a stable, that is no reason why 
we should follow their example, but we 



should endeavor, as far as human means 
will go, to make His sanctuary upon 
earth a fitting abode, prefiguring, no mat- 
ter how faintly, the glories of the Heav- 
enly Jerusalem. 



DESIGN XIII 



The accompanying design is intended for 
a parish churcli of an elaborate charac- 
ter. It contains between seven and eight 
hundred sittings on the ground floor, with 
six ranges of pews. The chancel is ap- 
sidal, and some thirty-five feet in depth. 
On the south there is a chancel aisle 
for the benefit of retiring communicants, 
which also acts as an eastern entrance 
and bajDtistery, while on the north side 
is the organ and sacristy. 

The tower, of a somewhat Italian type, 
is original in design — much higher than 
usual, and surmounted by a lantern in- 
stead of a spire. The entrance porch is 
also an ornamental feature, having col- 
umns with capitals and bases of white 
marble, the former elaborately sculj^tured. 
The shafts are of polished Aberdeen gran- 
ite, which not only has a very rich ap- 
pearance, but, contrary to colored mar- 
bles usually, has the advantage of with- 
standing the weather without injury to 
surface or color. Fine carved work adds 
greatly to the beauty of a building; much 



of the charm of mediaeval works is ow- 
ing to the profusion of admirable carv- 
ings with which they were adorned. Nat- 
ural forms of leaves and flowers were 
the models for imitation, those frequent- 
ly being chosen which were jDeculiar to 
the neighborhood. They Avere, however, 
conventionalized in the same manner as 
the eagle lectern, elsewhere alluded to. 

Every capital bore a difterent leaf, as 
the ivy on one, the hawthorn on the 
next, etc., or they were adorned with a 
series of figures, representing the virtues 
and vices, or scriptural subjects. We may 
instance an example where all the cap- 
itals on one side the nave represent par- 
ables, and on the other miracles of our 
Lord. 

The ex]3ense of sculptured capitals is 
frequently a serious drawback to their 
introduction as adding very largely to 
the cost of the building. This, however, 
may be avoided by putting up the cap- 
itals in the block ; cutting only one or 
two to show the design, the remainder 



a 



Plate 27. 



Design 13 




a. 

m 



E.NTRANCE PORCM . 




CfT^ouKi> :(>jL<^r? . 



I'll'' L. 



u 



' PMOTO-UTHOCtu.fHIC CO. Kf , OSBO^ISES F/fOCC^ 



( 




AM PHOTO- LITMOGnAPMlO CO NY f 0S30RN£S PROCESS I 



^p-ei^sp^^-cTiv-cc vi-ew. 



I 



beino; left in the rouo-li to be finislied 
at a subsequent i^eriod. In this way all 
the capitals of a nave may be executed, 
from time to time, j^erhaps long after 
the church is otherwise completed. 

Too little attention has hitherto been 
paid to the subject of gas-fixtures. We 
have often seen churches of fair design 
positively disfigured by the lighting ar- 
rangements — which were as utterly incon- 
gruous and out of keeping as those " bar- 
gains from auction " with which some 
persons are fond of filling their houses. 
The fact is, that the gas-fixtures are usu- 
ally selected after the building has passed 
out of the architect's supervision by a 
" lighting committee," of the best inten- 
tions, but who usually have no idea that 
church fixtures should differ in any way 
from those proper for a theatre. These 
worthy individuals are tolerably sure to 
invest in a vast amount of gilt and glit- 
ter — "as much poison as can be had 
for the money" — worked up into hideous 
brackets, with globes of ground glass, 
which are fastened round each of the 
nave columns. This seems at first thought 
the natural and most convenient way of 
accomplishing the result, but is in fact 



the most faulty that could readily be 
devised ; for, in the first place, one half 
of each light is cut off by the column, 
so that double the number of fixtures 
is required as by a proper method of 
lighting; and, again, the effect of the col- 
umn is materially injured, as many an 
architect has reason to know. His feel- 
ings on the subject are, indeed, much 
the same as, when he has erected a su- 
perb marble warehouse or block of offices 
— the effect is utterly ruined by the r ali- 
ble of incongruous sign-boards, with which 
its front is liberally hung. Where he 
has designed an elaborate detail, flares 
the announcement that John Smith, at- 
torney-at-law, does business within ; and 
to the pierced tracery of a graceful bal- 
cony is affixed a huge board to let the 
world know, in letters a foot long, that 
Thomas Brown sells stockings here. It 
is all very well to have signs, but they 
should be embraced in the architect's de- 
sign, and put up under his supervision — 
not stuck on helter-skelter, without the 
slightest regard to appearances. So, too, 
it is as much the architect's place to 
make or select appropriate patterns for 
the gas-fixtures of a church, as for him 



to design the sj)ire or arrange tlie chan- 
cel. 

The correct fixtures for a church are 
either chandeliers having the form of co- 
ronae, and hung from the apex of each 



bay, or, if these are considered too elab- 
orate or expensive, by standards placed 
between the columns. The accomj)anying 
plate shows some specimens of very ex- 
cellent style for church purj)oses. 



^Ui 25 • 



tOesijn 11< T 



1 1 

I 




<2i_ 



iwmm v\{mn '-nv. Ai(<'.nni|^i->AN<i<)AH'it nvr ^ <jo •:• m nw~V oip;^^ 



><« PHOTO'UTMOt^fiAPHIC CO ft T t OSBOfiNCS PfroccSS ■ 



I 



CHAPTER XIII. 



SPIRES 



Of all Cliristian symbols the sjDire is, 
j)erliaps, the most striking, and full of 
meauiug. While the massy walls and 
square, solid tower underneath seem ex- 
pressive of the enduring nature of Christ's 
Chui'ch, lio-htlv mountino- fi-om the smn- 
mit, amid clustering pinnacles, the stately 
spire crowns the whole noble work, and 
speaks the upward yearning of the sj^irit 
for its heavenlj- home. 

In ancient examples the spire usually 
sui'mounted a ponderous rood-tower, which 
occupied the intersection of nave and tran- 
septs, resting on the corner-piers, and su])- 
ported by lofty arches, whose spring met 
the line of the groined ceiling. Frequent- 
ly two spires of inferior altitude sui*- 
mounted two smaller towers, which flanked 
the western front, differing from the rood- 
tower in their springing from the ground 
instead of the roof. These, however, were 
never used except in subordination to the 



central tower. The practice of our mod- 
ern architects errs in this resj)ect, they 
frequently making use of two western 
towers exactly alike, without regard to 
subordination — an example of which we 
find in St. George's, New York, and its 
near neighbor, Calvaiy. 

It is always painful in a j^a-infing to 
see two equally j)rominent objects repre- 
sented. Thus, in E.aj)hael's cartoons, our 
Lord is the central figure on which our 
interest is mainly concentrated, and the 
other figures, though full of sj)irit and 
character, fall into the background and 
are subordinate to the main subject of 
the picture. 

It would not answer to have two gen- 
erals of equal rank in an army, or two 
equal sovereigns in a kingdom ; conflict- 
ing interests would put an end to both 
discipline and government ; in order to 
preserve harmony, one must be a little 



below the other. In the same way, if 
one spire is a little less important in 
size and elaboration than the other, the 
proper effect is secured. 

We may, however, have almost any 
number of spires subordinate to the cen- 
tral one — as at Caen Cathedral, which 
has no less than five ; the principle is 
the same as placmg pinnacles around the 
base of the individual spire. Sometimes 
we see four, and sometimes eight, of 
these; but here, again, we object to the 
total omission of the spire, and the sub- 
stitution of a parapet, flanked by four 
pinnacles, all of a size. "This arrange- 
ment produces," says Mr. Ruskin, " the 
exact effect of a dining-table with its 
legs in the air." If one pinnacle be car- 
ried up higher than the others, the evil 
is corrected at once. 

It was undoubtedly intended that spires 
should be added by a future generation, 
when omitted by the mediaeval l^uilders, 
and the parsimony or careless neglect of 
their descendants must be held account- 
able for the absence of these crowning 
beauties. Such unfinished work has been 
ajDtly called "broken promises to God." 

This omission also leaves the tower 



flat-roofed — as essentially a jDagan char- 
acteristic as the spire is peculiarly Chris- 
tian. "The spire never adorned the shrine 
of a heathen god — never glorified the 
mosque of a false prophet ; but when, 
at last, the Church of Christ felt the 
' beauty of holiness,' it exhaled from the 
gromng perfection of the Church as fra- 
grance from an 023ening flower. It is, 
therefore, peculiarly a monitor of grace, 
and the solemn peal of its bells sounds 
a knell which, unlike that heard by 
Macbeth, summons us only to heaven." 

The most famous spires in England 
are those of St. Michael's, Coventry, Chi- 
chester Cathedral, Lichfield Cathedral, and, 
sjiecially, the magnificent spire of Salis- 
bury. Its summit is four hundred and 
four feet from the ground, and the ma- 
sonry, nowhere more than seven inches 
thick, attests the skill of its construc- 
tion. It has three broad bands of tra- 
cery, and eight pinnacles at the base, 
and the ribs are fretted throughout with 
elegant crockets. Besides Salisbury, the 
tallest spires now standing are those of 
Strasburg Minster, four hundred and sev- 
enty-four feet ; St. Stephen's, Vienna, four 
hundred and sixty-nine feet; Notre Dame, 



Antwerp, four hundred and sixty-six feet. 
The highest in this country, until lately, 
was that of Trinity Church, New York, 
two hundred and eighty-four feet ; but 
that of Holy Trinity, Brooklyn, has been 
carried up a few feet higher. 

Not only were magnificent spires erect- 
ed on the splendid cathedi-als of ancient 
days — in many a secluded village Ave may 
find works of proj^ortionate beauty, where 
the builders could not have hoped for 
more than the ignorant admiration of 
country people. Such good deeds, done 
not "to be seen of men," are a strikino- 
proof of the sincere and ardent piety of 
the men of old. 

There is a symbolism in the cock which 
usually crowns the church spire, which 
has been thus explained by Bishop Du- 
randus : " The cock at the summit of 
the church is a type of the preacher. 
For the cock, ever watchful, even in the 
depth of night, giveth notice how the 
hours j)ass, waketh the sleej^ers, j)redict- 
eth the approach of day — ^but first ex- 
citeth himself to crow by striking his 
sides Avith his Avings. There is a mys- 
tery conveyed in each of these particu- 
lars : the night is the world ; the sleep- 



ers are the children of this Avorld, Avho 
are asleejj in their sins ; the cock is the 
preacher AA'ho preaches boldly, and excit- 
eth the sleepers to cast aAvay the works 
of darkness, exclaiming — ' Woe to them 
that sleep ! ' ' AAvake thou that sleepest ! , 
and then foretells the approach of day 
Avhen he speaks of the day of Judgment 
and the glory that shall be revealed ; 
and, like a j^rudent messenger, l^efore he 
teaches others, arouses himself from the 
sleep of sin, by mortifying the body. 
And as the Aveather-cock faces the wind, 
so he turns himself boldly to meet the 
rebellious by threats and arguments." 

ToAvers are correct in any position, ex- 
cept the east end of the chancel. In de- 
sign XYI. Ave haA^e shown a single toAver, 
placed at the northwest corner of the 
church. There is an economical advantage 
to be derived from this position, as the 
walls being loAA^est at the corners, the 
toAver need not be carried up so high 
to be in proportion, and, consequently, 
the base may be smaller. In this design 
the tower is eighteen feet square, and one 
hundred and forty feet in height, Avhile 
in design IX., AA^here the single toAver is 
placed in the centre of the building, it 



218 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



is twenty-seven feet square, and two hun- 
dred and fifty-two feet liigli. We thus 
see that these two positions require tow- 
ers and spires of diftering altitude, in or- 
der that proportion may be observed. 

It is true some utilitarians, who apply 
to everything the test question, "What's 
the use of that ? " will consider the spire 
a mere useless a23pendage — a waste of 
money and material ; but, we may ask, 
of what use are the lilies ? why should 
the sky be blue instead of black ? why 



has the lark a thrilling song I or, why 
should any beautiful thing exist which 
cannot be accounted for by value re- 
ceived in dollars and cents? Such sor- 
did ideas can have no weio-ht with the 
artistic, the refined, and, we may add, 
the Christian mind ; and as we kneel 
in prayer beneath the hallowed roof of 
the church, we may well trust that our 
hopes and aspirations, leaving this dull 
earth, may, like the spire, mount untram- 
melled to the infinite heaven ! 



aJ 



n 



Plate 30 




Desi&n 15. 



<^T^our^]> H^isAU. 



I — 1—1 1 — l—U 



di 



n 



! nOTO-tlTHOeKAPHIC CO HriOSBOflHlS PROCCSS I 



p 



LATE 



31 



Detsi&n 15 



i! 




l^^nSTpilCTIVCL Vl^lW. 



^M PHOTO- LITHOGRAPHIC ClX N. Y i OSBORHES PROCESS I 



DESIGN XV. 



The follo"\viiig plan was inteuded for 
a Presbyterian cliurcli to be erected in 
Connecticnt, and contains some three hun- 
dred sittino's. The tower at the rio-ht 
fonns a capacious vestibule, while there 
is another entrance in front. The great 
advantage of a vestibule is for break- 
ino' the stream of cold air in winter, 
as the outside door may be closed on 
entering before opening the inner one ; 
whereas, when there is only a direct 
entrance to the building, the sudden rush 
of cold air has the effect of chilling the 
entire congregation. It is, therefore, in- 



tended in inclement weather to use the 
tower entrance alone, keeping the front 
door entirely shut until tlie close of the 
exercises; as the vestibule entrance would 
not admit of the congregation leaving in 
a body, and the warmth of the building 
l^eing then of less consequence, the front 
door may very properly be thrown open. 
Thei'e is a gallery across the front of 
the church, which is approached by the 
staircase shown at the left. This feature 
we would rather have avoided, as it gives 
the building a depressed appearance on 
entering. 



CHAPTER XIY. 



CHURCH CLOCKS. 



The histoiy of clocks is very imper- 
fectly known, as by some they are sup- 
posed to have been invented in Italy 
as early as the ninth century, while we 
find no certain mention of them until 
about the thirteenth. It is said that 
the first clock made in England was fur- 
nished out of the proceeds of a fine im- 
posed upon the chief justice of the King's 
Bench, in 1288 ; and that it remained 
in its original situation in Old Palace 
Yard as late as the reign of Elizabeth. 
In the reign of Richard II., a large as- 
tronomical clock was made by Richard 
of Wallingford, abbot of St. Albans, 
which was regulated by a fly. But the 
most ancient clock of which we have 
any certain account was erected in a 
tower of the palace of Charles V., of 
France, about the year 1364, by Hen- 
ry de Wyke, a German artist. A clock 
was erected at Strasburg about 1370, and 



one at Spires in 1395. In the follow- 
ing centuiy public clocks appear to have 
existed in all the principal towns of 
Euroj^e, and private ones to have come 
into very general use. 

The earliest clocks were no doubt " very 
rude and imperfect affairs ; that of Hen- 
ry de Wyke, mentioned above, being reg- 
ulated by an alternating balance, which 
was formed by suspending two heavy 
weights from a horizontal bar, fixed at 
right angles to an upright axis, and the 
movement accelerated or retarded by di- 
minishing or increasing the distance of 
the weights from the axis. It had no 
regulating sj)ring, and the action must, 
consequently, have been very irregular. 
The capital improvement of the pendu- 
lum dates from about the middle of the 
seventeenth century ; but it is very un- 
certain by whom the application was first 
made or jDroposed. 



226 



CHUECH ARCHITECTURE. 



Another invention, which marks an 
epoch in the history of horology, is that 
of counteracting the changes of temper- 
ature on the pendulum-rod and the bal- 
ance. The mercurial com23ensation - pen- 
dulum "W'as invented by Graham, about 
the year 1715 ; which was afterward su- 
perseded by the modern gridii'on pendu- 
lum. 

On the subject of large clocks and 
clock-towers we still have very little 
satisfactory knowledge or system, as re- 
gards either their art, aspect, or Y^rac- 
tical working. Simple as it would seem 
to arrange this matter correctly, we may 
say that if there be a ^^or^^.s asinorum 
of architecture, it is the artistic treat- 
ment of clocks, and the j^roduction of 
really useful and well-designed clock- 
toAvers. 

And, first, the shape of the dial. 
What can be a less j)leasing object 
than the round, starins; face of an or- 
dinary church -clock — filled with figures 
that have no pretensions to beauty, and 
apparently stuck upon the edifice with- 
out any definite reference to the design? 
Why, in fact, must they le round? Why 
not T)ehind a quatre-foil of carved stone ? 



The minute points are of no importance 
at so great a distance from the eye, 
and there is no reason why the figures 
should not be supplanted by large spots, 
in strong contrast Avith the dial, as 
AA^hite or gold on dark blue or black. 
The fact that the hands must be hid- 
den at their free extremities, and there- 
fore appear of A^arying length Avhen Avork- 
ing behind a non-circular oj)ening, may 
be taken into account, and made to serve 
a useful purpose in the design. On re- 
flection, it AAdll be found that Ave look 
in A^icAving the clock not upon the face, 
but at the relatiA^e position of the hands; 
and the fact that the general j^ublic are 
used to the circular face, is no reason 
why they should not in time become 
accustomed to a more pictui'esque form. 
Sir Digby Wyatt, speaking on this sub- 
ject, says : " It is not Avell to make a 
violent contrast betAveen the periphery of 
the dial and the stone, or other frame- 
Avork in Avhich it is set, Ijecause if this 
2:>recaution be neglected, the eye Avill be 
aj^t to run round the exterior before set- 
tling on the hands" — thus indirectly con- 
firming our objection to the circular form. 
And, noAV, as to the towers — Avhy must 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



227 



they, one and all, assume the same con- 
formation I Under existing circumstances, 
clock-towers are nearly all modelled on 
the principle of the clock-case of our 
o-reat o-rand mothers — a coffin standino; on 
end, with a round or square hole cut 
in the uppermost j)ortion of the lid to 
display the face. When any other tower 
is to be erected, taste and fancy are 
called into requisition, merely under con- 
formity to the particular style or order 
attemj^ted in the edifice ; hut when it 
comes to the clock-tower, some law, as 
unalterable as those of the Medes and 
Persians, would seem to decree that they 
shall all be of the same stereotyped pat- 
tern. 

Supposing a happy design to have been 
arranged, we have next to consider what 
are the j^i'^ctical conditions to be ful- 
filled. 

Considerable controversy has been raised 
in reo^ard to the size of dials. The o-reat 
defect seems to lie in getting them too 
small. No one could imagine, without 
some j)ractical experience, that a dial 
should be eio*ht feet in diameter at six- 
ty feet liigli to apj)ear of the same j)ro- 
portionate dimensions as one of four feet 



at an elevation of thirty. Yet this is 
actually the case. The rule laid down 
1)}' English authorities is, that taking 
four feet as the diameter for a thirty- 
foot elevation, the size should be in- 
creased one foot for every eight there- 
after. The weights of a clock of this 
kind become something formidable ; and 
as they should have an average run of 
sixty feet, the accidental falling of one 
of them woidd probaldy cany away every- 
thing in its progress. It is, therefore, 
necessary to allow the weights a clear 
fall to the cellar floor, or else, to pro- 
vide against accident l)y having them 
cushioned. Sometimes they are enclosed 
in a box of sawdust, which would act 
as a sort of Ijuffer. It is always best 
to kave tlie weights directly under the 
works ; yet, if this should prove incon- 
venient, it is perfectly possilde to guide 
them off by means of 2:)ulleys to an}' 
channel where they may be protected 
and out of the way. 

It is peculiarly important to luake am- 
jdIc provision for a clock, and in order 
to do this, it is well to originally pre- 
pare the design in consultation with the 
liorolo^er or clock-maker, as foi' ^vant of 



228 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



this perfect understanding on botli sides, 
alterations, both difficult and expensive, 
have frequently to be made. At the 
same time it may be useful and inter- 
esting to enumerate here a few of the 
requisites. 

It seems almost imjDossible to lay down 
any rule for the size of clock-chamber 
or level of clock-floor. (Of course it will 
be understood that the works are placed 
some distance below the dial, and con- 
nected by rods with the hands.) The 
suggestion has been made that the di- 
ameter of the dial, ^^^w.s two feet, might 
be adopted as a suitable gauge for width, 
height, and length — including space for 
winding ; and if the floor of the cham- 
ber be placed the same number of feet 
below the centre of dial, the rodding 
for the hands would be sufficient with- 
out waste. The same sliding scale could 
be taken as a guide for the arc of vi- 
bration of the pendulum, Avhich in large 
clocks is seldom less than fourteen feet 
in length, and in all cases should be 
as long as circumstances will admit. 

There should be no enclosure of the 
works in a case of wood, the conse- 
quent darkening and encumbering of the 



clock-chamber greatly increasing the diffi 
culty of repairing and oiling the works, 
to say nothing of the danger from fire. 
Glass sashes will be found best for such 
purposes, as not obstructing the light. 
Three or four openings into this case 
from the outer air should be made, to 
prevent the accumulation of damp, closed 
with wire gauze to keep out dust, which 
would soon cause derangement of the 
works. 

To provide adequate support for the 
heavy clock - frame, an English writer 
recommends either rigid beams of iron, 
or comparatively elastic ones of timber. 
The advantage of the rigid beams is, 
that in fair weather the clock goes bet- 
ter; their disadvantage, that in storms 
they communicate instantly to the clock 
every shock or vibration of the tower ; 
and these, where the latter is slight, are 
no trifle — as any one will know who has 
once been up among the bells in a high 
wind. If wooden beams are used, the 
good and bad points are exactly re- 
versed. Perhaps, therefore, the best ar- 
rangement would be, to adopt the iron 
beams for large clocks in very massive 
towers, where the clock is at no great 



height, and trussed beams iu other cases. 
Trussed beams are better than uutrussed, 
since the latter will, in course of time, 
acquire a " set " under their permanent 
load, which might disturb the going of 
the clock, by altering the position of 
the works with reference to the dials. 

The shape of dials would be much 
improved were they to be made concave 
instead of convex — as in the latter form 
the minute-hand, being necessarily outside 
the other, is thrown still farther off the 
minutes to which it has to point ; and, 
consequently, when it is in any but a 
vertical position, it is almost impossible 
to be certain where it is pointing. When 
the dial is of stone, the middle may 
be countersunk for the hour-hand, so that 
its fellow may go close to the minutes 
and avoid parallax. The long-hand should 
be perfectly straight and plain, and the 
shorter end in a "heart" or swell. They 
should be counterpoised on the outside, 
in preference to within, otherwise the 
force of the wind is apt to loosen them 
on the arbor (or axis). 

As to the material of the dial, stone, 
slate, glass, majolica, enamelled iron, or 
copper, which have their colors fixed by 



vitrification, may, any of them, l)e used 
with propriety, ])ut the worst forms are 
those " skeleton dials," having no middle 
except radiating l)ars of stone, which seem 
placed there expressly to perplex the spec- 
tator. It would be better to have none 
at all, so far as ascertaining the time 
is concerned, and leave the hours to be 
told b}' chimes. Also, in designing orna- 
mentation for the face, care should be 
taken to avoid straight lines in the pat- 
terns, these also having a tendency to 
distract the eye ; and for the same rea- 
son avoid a rim around the outside, of 
the same color or gilding as the figures. 

There is usually an objection to illu- 
minated clocks, from the fact that there 
is difficulty in seeing the hands and fig- 
ures during the day. It is well known 
that white on black can be seen much 
more readily than black on white ; we 
would, therefore, suggest that the face 
be either black or dark blue, and the 
figures white. Of course, the question 
would then be asked. How is such a 
face to be illuminated? but we w^ould 
suggest that this might be accomplished 
in the following manner : 

Let the face be of copj^er, painted black, 



230 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



and tlie figures and hands perforated and 
filled mtli white transparent porcelain. 
The dial would be constructed in three 
concentric discs, the outermost, contain- 
ing the figures, stationary, and the oth- 
ers, with the perforations in them, which 
would ser^e as hands to revolve. This 
arrangement would also avoid the neces- 
sity for counterpoising the hands. 

When the dial is illuminated from with- 
in, the works should be protected fi-om 
the products of combustion by a screen 
of ])rickwork between them and the jets, 
covered on the dial side with a white 
reflector. Two jets, properly arranged, are 
sufficient for a face of six feet diameter. 
These are kept constantly turned on, and 
raised or lowered at the proper times 
by mechanism connected with the clock 
itself, and regulated by pins, set in by 
hand, according to the length of the 
days. 

A good feature in every clock-tower, 
which could be made to harmonize with 
the style of the building, would be the 
introduction of a balcony, accessible from 



within, just beneath the dial. The ad- 
vantage of this, when cleansing or regild- 
ing of hands or figures is required, is 
obvious ; as otherwise the work would 
have to be done on scafi^olding, at a 
needless expense and risk of men's lives. 
Here, too, might be placed gas-jets with 
reflectors, when it is not desirable to 
have a face illuminated fi'om Avithin. 

Clock-bells are of all kinds, from one 
large bell, merely striking the hours, to 
fifteen small ones, playing tunes. As 
clock-bells do not turn upward in ring- 
ing, like the church -bells, care must be 
taken to hang them sufficiently high, and 
to have them in as open a situation as 
possible. Glass louvres have been recom- 
mended for filling the openings, but none 
at all would be better. Instances have 
been known of small bells playing tunes 
being distinctly heard at a distance of 
two miles from the church ; while others, 
far larger ones, could be heard only half 
a mile, owing to the diffi^rent method 
of hanging, and the greater amount of 
enclosure in the latter case. 



PUATE 32 



DESIGN 16, 



\ 




VC$TI8UL.C . 



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j f 


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1 — 

k 





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<]^^Ot/lfiD pLfAT?. 



/Af P/IOTO'UrfiCCffAPHIC CO fJ Y lOSBORNtS Pf^OCCSS. / 



D E S I (t N XVI 



This design, whicli was intended for 
a Presbyterian society, is composed of 
tower, nave, and aisles : the tower acting 
as a spacious vestibule entrance. There 
is also a smaller rear entrance, which 
accommodates the Sunday School or lec- 
ture-room. The clergyman has an entrance 
opposite to this, which approaches the 
recessed platform. There is also an out- 
side door at south of Sunday School, 
and one at west end of south aisle. The 
organ occupies a position between the au- 
ditorium and the Sunday School, and is 
so arranged as to accommodate both — hav- 
ing a key-board on either side. The pul- 
pit recess has a window above the ceil- 
ing of Sunday School room, receiving light 
fi'om a skylight situated upon a flat por- 
tion of the roof. This flat is arranged to 
fill up the valley which would otherwise 
exist between the end of nave and Sunday 
School roof — thus avoiding the danger of 
snow lodging and causing a leak. Another 
advantage of this arrangement is that the 
recess-window may be illuminated at night. 



The infant-class is connected with the 
Sunday School by sliding-doors — separat- 
ing it entirely during recitations, while 
it may Avith equal facility be thrown 
into the main room at opening and clos- 
ing the session. The sittings are ar- 
ranged in two ways on plan, that on 
the right sliowing their disposition for 
classes, while that on the left is the ar- 
rangement in case of a lecture ; in which 
case the infant-class room is equally avail- 
able. 

The number of sittings is distributed 
as follows : 

Auditorium, 517. 

Sunday School, 172. 

Infant-class, 65. 

Bible-class, 20. 

We have as yet said nothing with re- 
gard to one of the most important mat- 
ters in the building of a church, or, in- 
deed, any other structure — the founda- 
tions. This, however, should meet with 
the utmost attention, as, should any im- 
perfection exist here, very serious conse- 



234 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



quences are liable to ensue. A few words 
oil their proper construction may be of 
interest. 

In commencing a building it is usual 
to spread the bottom course of masonry 
considerably beyond the face of the su- 
j)erincumbeut work, as by distributing its 
weight over a larger surface, the liabil- 
ity to settle is greatly diminished ; and, 
again, in an isolated structure these foot- 
ings, or spread courses, form a protection 
against its being thrown out of uj)right 
by the action of the wind. 

Where the footings are of great width, 
in consequence of the unstable nature of 
the ground, or where rendered necessary 
by the massive nature of the buildings 
above, it is well to have them coursed 
in several layers, diminishing toward the 
top, on the principle of steps. But where 
neither of these causes exist, a footing 
course of large stones, running through 
the wall, and projecting on either side 
from six to twelve inches, may be con- 
sidered sufficient. 

Where the ground is very soft, and 
a large bearing surface is required, plank- 
ing may be resorted to — which is an ex- 
cellent method, provided that the tim- 



ber can be kept from decay. If the 
ground be wet, and the timber good, 
there is little to fear ; but in a very 
dry situation, or one exposed to alter- 
nations of wet and dry, decay is very 
apt to ensue. The advantage of plank- 
ing is, that it will resist great cross- 
strains with very trifling flexure ; and, 
therefore, a wide footing may be ob- 
tained without any excessive spreading 
of the bottom course of masonry. 

A common practice, where the ground 
is unstable, is to apply a coating of 
concrete. This, in ordinary cases, answers 
an excellent purpose, yet too great faith 
should not be placed in it, as even, at 
the best, it possesses little strength when 
exposed to transverse strains, to overcome 
which it requires to be thoroughly banked 
up on either side. 

Concrete is made of gravel, sand, and 
lime, mixed together with water ; the 
slacking of the lime taking place while 
in contact with the first-named materials. 
The proportion of lime and sand should 
be such as is best suited to form a ce- 
ment to connect the stones ; it is, how- 
ever, difficult to say exactly what these 
proportions should be, as they difi^er with 



Plate 33 



DESIGN l<b 



>C 




I>€CT^5rp«CVlV€C Vl^W. 



,<Af PHOTO-UThOSRAPHiC CO. N.y ' OSBORfiCS PROCESS / 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



287 



the quality of the lime used. The stones 
ought to be of various sizes, aucl angu- 
lar, rather than round. Lime concrete, 
however, is of but little use in wet sit- 
uations, for which it would be proper 
to use hydraulic cement. 

It is well to notice, in regard to 
nave columns, that since the foundations 
of one of these may possibly rest on 
softer ground than the others, causing 
the settlement, if any, to be unequal, it 
is best to unite these foundations into 
a continuous wall, giving a greater bear- 
ing for all the columns. If connected by 
inverted arches, the settlement of one col- 
umn is counteracted by the weight of 
another. Inverted arches, however, should 



only he used where there is a proper 
abutment on l)oth sides; otherwise au}' 
failure would have the effect of thro^w- 
ing out the walls. These arches it is 
also well to place under any large ojjen- 
ing, such as the chancel arch, and also 
under doorways and windows, if of great 
mdth. This prevents one side of the 
opening settling more than the other — 
a serious misfortune, tending to disjoint 
the surmounting arch, to the great detri- 
ment of the edifice. 

Lastly, it is of paramount importance 
that all foundations he carried below the 
action of frost, as should the frost get 
under the foundations, the result would 
be the upheaval of the walls. 



CHAPTER Xy. 



BELLS 



We cannot take an interest in spires 
and belfries, without having recalled to 
our minds the bells, which, from their 
lofty post in mid-air, jDour forth their 
solemn voices in summons to the faith- 
ful to assemble for prayer and praise, 
in rejoicings on the bridal morn, and in 
mournful requiems for the dead, " Avho 
rest in the Lord." 

The use of church bells dates as far 
back as the second century of the Chris- 
tian era, the earliest of which we have any 
account being introduced by St. Paulinus 
in Campania ; after which their emj^loy- 
ment gradually became general through- 
out Christendom. In the sixth century 
lofty campaniles became distinguishing 
features of the principal churches. Chimes 
or peals were rung as at the present 
day, although the practice of ringing in 
accordance with regular musical notation 
is said to be peculiar to England, and 



to have existed in the time of the Saxons. 
Strictly speaking, although they are some- 
times confounded together, a peal consists 
of but four bells, set upon the first, third, 
fifth, and eighth notes of the common 
scale ; while a chime contains all the eight 
notes. With a full chime, tunes may be 
played ; but if we consider for a moment, 
it will be seen that a surprising number of 
changes may be rung uj)on a peal. Three 
bells only are capable of six different 
changes ; four bells, twenty-four changes ; 
five bells, one hundred and twenty. 

In early times, bells were held in great 
honor — almost in reverence — being washed 
in holy water, I'egularly named, and hung 
with much ceremony. The abl^ey church 
of Croyland had a peal of seven bells, 
named Suthlac, Bartholomew, Betelin, Tur- 
ketel, Tat^vin, Bega, and Pega ; and, in 
our own day, Big Ben and Big Tom 
are famous bells in England. 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



230 



Numerous superstitions attaclied to 
cliurcli bells in niedi;Bval days. Evil 
spirits were supposed to flee at their 
sound, infection to be dispersed, thunder 
and lightning abated, and high AN'inds 
appeased — all of which is recorded in 
a Latin inscription, found on many an- 
cient bells. A number of these inscrip- 
tions have been preserved, some of them 
in English, but they are usually such 
wretched doo-o-erel as not to be worth 
insertino;. One of the best runs as fol- 
lows : 

To call the fold to church in tune, 

We chime ; 
When joy and mirth are on the wing, 

We ring; 
When we lament a departed soul, 

We toll. 

Different methods of ringing announced 
the various services of the Roman com- 
munion. The eight hours of prayer. Mat- 
ins, Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, Nones, 
Vespers, and Comj)line, had each their 
appropriate summons. There were also 
the Ave Maria, Angelus, and Sanctus 
bells rung during service. 

There are a number of very large bells 
in existence — the great bell of Moscow 
being the largest in the world. This, 



however, was never hung, as it was 
cracked before being lifted out of tlie 
j)it where it Avas cast. Its weight is 
four" hundred and forty-three thousand 
seven hundred and seventy -two pounds ; 
its height, nineteen feet ; and circum- 
ference around the margin, sixty - three 
feet eleven inches. This monstrous ag- 
glomeration of metal has had a doorwa}' 
made of the broken side, and is fitted 
up Avithin as a chapel. Another large 
bell at Moscow weighs two hundred and 
eighty - eight thousand pounds, and re- 
quires twenty-four men to ring it. Of 
course, it is only used on solemn occa- 
sions, and its tone is like the diapason 
of a great organ, or the rolling of dis- 
tant thunder. 

The largest bell in England, that of 
York Minster, weighs twenty-seven thou- 
sand pounds, and is only seven feet 
seven inches in circumference. The fa- 
mous bell of Erfurth, named Susanne, 
weighs thirty thousand j)Ounds, and the 
great bell of Notre Dame de Paris, j)re- 
sented by Louis XIY., in 1680, thirt}- 
eight thousand pounds. There are no 
remarkably large bells in this country. 

Bells are cast by pouring the liquid 



240 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



metal between two cases, or moulds, of 
earthenware, corresponding to tlie inner 
and outer side ; or between iron cases, 
perforated to allow the escape of the 
inflammable gases engendered by heavy 
castings, which are liable to explode, if 
care is not exercised. Their metal is 
composed of co2:)per, tin, zinc, and lead, 
in unequal proportions — ^the copper great- 
ly predominating. Silver was formerly 
supposed to be requisite in order to 
give softness of tone ; but this, we be- 
lieve, is purely imaginary. Great nice- 
ty and long experience is called for in 
their manufacture to secure a pure and 
uniform tone, free from jangling or harsh- 
ness. The sound is heard at a greater 
distance on plains than hills, and in 
valleys still further — perhaps on account 
of the atmosphere in elevated situations 
becoming too highly rarified to be a 
good conductor of sound. 

The belfry should be constructed more 
open than is frequently the case. Few- 



things can be more absurd than to hang 
a bell in a small tower, with narrow 
apertures, filled with close -set louvre- 
boards, and expect its voice to be very 
far-reaching. In fact, it would be well 
to omit louvre-boards entirely, when the 
bell and belfry can be otherwise pro- 
tected. The latter could be arranged by 
having its deck made tight with metal 
roofing. But the bell is still exposed, 
and the bell-ropes form conductors for 
leading Avater through the deck. It is, 
therefore, perhaps advisable to introduce 
the louvre-boards, though at a considera- 
ble distance apart, in order not to ob- 
struct the sound ; their width being corre- 
spondingly increased to prevent the rain 
driving in. Design IX. is an example of 
this treatment. The belfry should be 
ceiled above and below, to secure the 
sound from passing up or down the tow- 
er, and the mouths of the Ijells should 
not be lower than the base of the open- 
ings. 



IK THE BELFRY 



I 



I 



Bells in tlie aucieut miustei', 

Ring out iu the sunlit air, 
Like Solemn muzzeins telling 

The hour of jn-aise and prayer. 

O'er the sounding aisles and the pavements, 

"Worn hollow in by-gone days. 
They roll forth their mighty voices, 

As though they had thundered, " Praise ! " 

Then again, as some gentle spirit 
"Were bidding their tumult cease. 

They sink in a silver cadence. 
As though they had murmured, " Peace ! " 

It seemeth as they were praying. 

When their tremulous voices grew dim ; 

And their Ave and Sanctus mingle. 
With the strain of the saintly hymn. 

And still, for ever and ever, 

O mighty bells ! ring on ; 
Thanks giving for years departed, 

Hope telling for years to come. 



II. 

O the golden wedding music ! 

How it carols, and thrills, and swells, 
Higher, and higher, and higher — 

Drowning the voice of the bells 1 

Till the bells, in the happy contest, 

Win o'er the Psalm again, 
And their mellow triumph welcomes 

The forthcoming bridal train! 

Peal out, merry bells ! to greet her 
With honor, the fair young Wife! 

To her listening ear be telling 
The tale of her future life; 

With a joyous note for her gladness — 
A tender tone for her love — 

A solemn and soothing echo, 
Of her prayers to God above. 

And still, for ever and ever, 

O jubilant bells! peal on — 
A song of the joy around her, 

A song of the joy to come ! 



242 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



III. 


Till Death shall be king no longer, 


Toll, bells! for the heavy-hearted; 


Till our mourning and pain be done. 


Toll out ! again and again ; 




Wide swings the door of the minster, 


IV. 


Slow enters the funeral train. 


Chime, bells ! in a clear carillon ; 




Alleluia ! o'er all the earth ; 


Death! as a king we greet thee! 


For the coming of Christmas morning, 


Hail, King ! thou hast bowed us low ; 


For the joy of our Saviour's birth. 


Vainly we sue thy pity — 




Vainly thy grace would know. 


Chime, bells ! for His Kingly pleasure 




Our incense and gold we bring; 


children of ours departed ! 


The heart poureth out her praises, 


friends of the vanished years ! 


The lips to His glory sing. 


Are ye deaf to our frantic pleadings? 




Are ye blind to our streaming tears? 


Sweet Lord ! may Thy peace indwelling, 




Content every weary heart; 


Toll, bells ! let them hear your clangor ; 


Grow dearer than earthly treasure, 


Up there nearer Heaven you seem; 


Sink deeper than earthly smart. 


Though your cry from the vault reechoes 




Like sounds in a weary dream. 


And still, for ever and ever. 




bells ! chime on and on ; 


And still, for ever and ever, 


Till the sorrowful years be over. 


dolorous bells ! toll on ; 


Till the Heaven of our love be won! 



Plate 34^. 



Desi&n 17. 




ATOH^ 



CJ"Ttouin> j^L/^i?. 



^ rTx4- 



Af/! fHOrO-LlTHOaHAfniC CO HY:0!BOhnCS fnoass J 



DESIGN XVII, 



In designing sectarian cliurclies, we 
think it well to introduce a style, per- 
haps, less associated \vit]i conventional 
forms of Catholic architecture. We have 
here introduced a desio-n which was in- 
tended as an alteration of an old build- 
ing, the original outline of which is in- 
dicated by the dark portion on ground 
plan. It belonged to a wealthy congre- 
gation, who had worshij^ped foi- many 
years Avithin the four square walls of the 
impretending structure ; until, as cultiva- 
tion advanced, a building more in unison 
^vitla. modern taste and refinement was 
felt to be a necessity. The old church 
was solidly constructed of substantial 
stone-work, with a massive tie-beam roof, 
from which was suspended a flat lath 
and plaster ceiling — the whole forming 
a building of the severest Puritan type. 

To remodel a structure of this char- 
acter to suit more esthetic ideas was an 
undertaking of no little difficulty ; the 
manner in which it was accomplished is 
shown by that portion of a lighter color 



on plan. We thus formed in front a 
large vestibule, at the right of which 
is an office for the business pui'poses of 
the society, while the tower to the left 
contains a staircase, which apj^roaches the 
belfry, and a small gallery, situated over 
the vestibule. Side -galleries have, ho\v- 
ever, been omitted. 

At the rear we have added a recess, 
sej^arated from main building by a dec- 
orated arch, of sufficient depth to con- 
tain the organ ; the illuminated pipes of 
which form an agreeable background to 
the vista. These pipes are arranged so 
as not to obstruct the circular window 
behind, which is filled with stained glass 
— the smallest being placed in the cen- 
tre, and those of a larger size rising 
above the window at the ends. The 
key-board is located within the apartment 
on the right, which is intended to serve 
as a choir — opening into the auditorium 
by spacious arches. The singers have an 
entrance into this by an external door, 
protected by a small vestibule. 



246 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



The remodelling of tlie auditorium then 
became a point of study. Tlie design 
comprehended the removal of the old 
ceiling, disclosing a space of some twelve 
feet above, which had heretofore been 
wasted. It was thought best to include 
this, 2:)utting up a ceiling in accordance 
with the slope of the roof, and allowing 
the tie-beam trusses to show. These were 
smoothed and neatly cased, the struts 
ornamented, and spandrels filled up with 
pierced tracery. The coloring embraced 
the decoration of the ceiling, which was 
tinted in blue, powdered in moderation 
with gold stars. The trusses were paint- 
ed of a rich chocolate, relieved with 
bright vermilion and gold lines, and the 



walls were diapered; — the organ recess 
being of a much richer character than 
the auditorium ; the motive in this case, 
however, being merely esthetic, without 
reference to symbolism. 

The old windows were removed, and 
their places supplied with modern stained 
glass ; while the original pews, which 
contained some five hundred sittings, 
were replaced by modern work in ash 
and walnut. 

At the right of the perspective view, 
we have shown a lecture, or Sunday 
School building, and on the left a house 
for the minister. These, however, we 
will not enlarge upon here, as they have 
already been described in other articles. 



r 

I 




CHAPTER XTl. 



ARCHITECTURAL PROGRESS AMONG THE SECTS. 



We ought, perhaps, to offer some ex- 
planation of the digressions we have made 
in the present chapter from the subjects 
of this ^york — the architecture and his- 
tory of the Church. We quit the path 
we had marked out, feeling that it can- 
not but be gratifying to note the prog- 
ress going on among the sects, .of late 
years, toward a better appreciation of re- 
ligious art, and a higher religious tone. 
In many cases the observance of Christ- 
mas, the Easter flowers, and the atten- 
tion to ecclesiological details all prove 
that an advance, however slight, has been 
made toward that union of all fellow 
Christians in the fold of the Church, 
which, please God, shall come before the 
end of all earthly things. 

Thus the Gothic edifice, which we have 
perchance entered at random, with its 
stained glass windows, open timber roofs, 
and polychrome decorations, might seem 



one dedicated to the immemorial worship 
of the Church, were it not that the al- 
tar — the grand centre of that worshij) — 
has no place within its walls ; no sanc- 
tuary rail symbolizes the bamer between 
the sacred mysteries of faith and erring 
man. Side - galleries break the line of 
those lofty and otherwise beautiful col- 
umns, and the organ-loft is a fixed fact, 
not likely to be soon or easily done 
away. Nevertheless, the building is a 
vast advance on the whitewash and bare 
plaster of yore, and as great a revolu- 
tion has been effected in the sentiments 
of the worshij^pers in this temj)le reared 
with sincere homage to the Triune God 
we mutually adore. 

Not in the j)resent day would it be 
possible to find repeated such an inci- 
dent as occuiTed in the boyhood of one 
of the writer's aged relatives. Bred uj) 
a strict Congregationalist, the good old 



250 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



gentleman was wont to relate liow in 
Ills youthful days lie liad thought it an 
essential service rendered to the Lord to 
ride under the windows of the Episco- 
pal church in his native village, and with 
his whip-handle break as many panes as 
he could reach ! Whether the exploit 
was hailed with admiration by his fam- 
ily, he never mentioned. 

Such a state of feeling toward the 
Church was, however, but a dim shadow 
of what existed in pre-revolutionary days, 
when, in New England, Churchmen, Ro- 
manists, Quakers, Baptists, and Jews were- 
placed under the same ban, and suffered 
the like persecutions fi*om those grim 
worthies in steejole-crowned hats, ycleped 
Puritans or Separatists. It is rather sin- 
gular, though j)erhaps not unnatural, that 
these good people who had left Eng- 
land professed!}^ to enjoy freedom of con- 
science, should have been so sharply af- 
ter the heels of any venturesome indi- 
vidual who claimed an equal privilege. 
With them the definition of orthodoxy 
was, " my doxy " ; and of heterodoxy, 
" any other doxy " ; and the result they 
drew from that proposition was simply, 
" Believe what you like, by all means 



— but believe anything contrary to our 
creed^ and oft' go your ears ! " Ear crop- 
l^iug, tongue sjilitting, the pillory, and 
the scourge, were the lightest penalties 
incurred by any dissent fi*om Puritan 
modes of worship. 

Unfortunately, it seems a jmnciple in- 
herent to our fallen nature, that when 
persecuted we too frequently avenge the 
wrong — not on the oppressors — but on 
some perfectly innocent individual who 
chances to be weaker than ourselves ; and 
so it Avas with the Puritans in this coun- 
try. Incensed at what they considered 
unjust reprisals and penalties inflicted on 
them after the Restoration, they crossed 
the water only to inaugurate in turn a 
persecution so relentless, as to excite the 
astonishment of their brethren in Eng- 
land, and call forth from the home gov- 
ernment a sharj) command to desist. 

But a more striking instance of pre- 
judice and superstition carried to ex- 
tremes, was shown in those remarkable 
prosecutions for an imaginary offence — the 
trials for witchcraft — which took place in 
Salem and other towns, of which Cotton 
Mather has given us an account in his 
veracious work, entitled, •' Wonders of the 



r 



Invisible World; being an Account of 
the Trials of Several Witches lately exe- 
cuted in JS^ew England^ 

It is almost iucredible that even in 
sucli an out of the way cornei- of the 
Avorhl as Massachusetts such a monstrous 
delusion should have possessed an entire 
community. For this -svas an age of 
marked scientific discoveries. In the moth- 
er country, Harvey had just set beyond 
a doubt the circulation of the Tdood ; 
Halley investigated the properties of the 
atmosphere ; the Marquis of Worcester in- 
vented a rude, yet practicable, steam en- 
gine ; and, on all hands, alchemy and 
astrology were laughed to scorn as the fig- 
ments of an ao;e of io;norance. But at Sa- 
lem, the witch finders — that tribunal awful 
and absolute (a very Council of Ten) were 
gravely jDutting on trial for her life many 
an unfortunate old crone, whose worst 
crime was the possession of an ugly face 
and a crabbed temj^er, and Avho had a 
pet cat to console her loneliness. The 
most absurd accusations were received in 
all good faith ; she had been seen rid- 
ing on a broomstick ; she conversed free- 
ly AA'ith toads and frogs, who, of course, 
were her familiar imps in disguise. If 



a poor baby was discovered screeching 
with a pin running into it, tliat i)in was 
placed there by a witch. If a gouty old 
selectman sufl:ered from an indisfestion, a 
sorceress had inflicted the cramps and 
colic of which he complained ; in short, 
a thousand malignant pranks were at- 
tributed l)y witnesses who doubtless be- 
lieved at the time every syllable they 
alleged ; and the miserable victim miglit 
think herself fortunate to be only whipped 
at the cart's tail, or dragged through a 
horse-j)ond. If she floated in the latter 
operation, of coui'se she was a witch, 
and must be burnt forthwith ; if she 
sank, why, droAvning was only too good 
for such a wretch. 

At the same time, Sir Edmund An- 
dros, the governor of the province, has 
been handed down to posterity as the 
most odious of tyrants, l^ecause he j)er- 
sisted in having the English Church ser- 
A'ice celebrated, and on one occasion forced 
the doors of the "Old South" for the 
purpose of holding service there on Good- 
Friday. 

We do not doubt the sincerity of our 
Puritan ancestors, nor, like Coit, considei' 
that they were actuated in their emigra- 



252 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



tiou to this couutiy by motives of gain, 
uuder tlie cloak of religion ; but we 
think even their most ardent admirers 
cannot help admitting that they carried 
their views to extremes, and in their 
rigid banishing of all the beautiful ex- 
ternals of religion, and all the harmless 
amusements of life, would have made this 
world a place of mourning and sorrow, 
more dreary than the most rigid con- 
ventual seclusion. Lord Macaulay has 
given an admirable description of the 
peculiarities of this singular body of men, 
which we cpiote below : 

"The persecution which the Separatists, 
or Puritans, had undergone, had been se- 
vere enough to irritate them into savage- 
ness and stubbornness. After the fashion 
of oppressed sects, they mistook their own 
vindictive feelings for emotions of piety ; 
encouraged in themselves by reading and 
meditation a disposition to brood over 
their wrongs, and when they had worked 
themselves up into hating their own en- 
emies, imagined they were only hating 
the enemies of Heaven. In the New 
Testament there was little, indeed, which 
even when perverted by the most disin- 
genuous exposition could seem to coun- 



tenance the indulgence of malevolent pas- 
sion. But the Old Testament contained 
the history of a race selected by God 
to be witnesses of His unity, and min- 
isters of His vengeance, and specially com- 
manded by Him to do many things which, 
if done without His special command, 
would have been atrocious crimes. In 
such a history it was not difficult for 
fierce and gloomy spirits to find much 
that might be distorted to suit their 
wishes. The extreme Puritans, therefore, 
began to feel for the Old Testament a 
preference which, perhaps, they did not 
distinctly avow even to themselves, but 
which showed itself in all their sentiments 
and habits. They paid to the Hebrew 
language a respect which they refused to 
that tongue in which the discourses of 
Jesus and the epistles of Paul have come 
down to us. They baptized their chil- 
dren by the names, not of Christian saints, 
but of Hebrew patriarchs and warriors. 
In defiance of the express and reiterated 
declarations of Luther and Calvin, they 
turned the weekly festival by which the 
Church had from primitive times com- 
memorated the resurrection of her Lord, 
into a Jewish Sabbath. They sought for 



priuci}3les of jurisprudence in the Mosuic 
law, and for precedents to guide tlieir 
ordinary conduct in the ])Ooks of Kings 
and Judo-es. Tlieir tliouo-lits and dis- 
course ran much on acts ^vliicli were as- 
suredly not recorded for our imitation. 
The ])rophet Avho hewed in pieces a cap- 
tive king, the rebel general who gave 
the hlood of a cpieen to the dogs, the 
matron who, in defiance of plighted faith 
and the laws of Eastern hospitality, drove 
the nail into the l:)rain of the fugitive 
who had just fed at her board, and who 
was sleeping under the shadow of her 
tent, were projDosed as models to Chris- 
tians suffering under the tyranny of jive- 
lates and princes. 

" Morals and manners were subjected 
to a code resembling that of the syna- 
gogue, when the synagogue was in its 
worst state. The dress, the deportment, 
the language, the studies of this rigid 
sect were regulated on principles resem- 
bling those of the Pharisees, who taunted 
our Lord as a Sabbath-breaker and a 
wine-bibber. It Avas a sin to hang gar- 
lauds on a maypole, to drink a friend's 
health, to fly a hawk, to hunt a stag, 
to play at chess, to wear lovelocks, to 



2)ut starch in a ruff, to play on an}- 
musical instrument, to read the Faii\- 
Queen. Rules such as these, which would 
have appeared insup})ortable to the free, 
joyous spirit of Luther, and contempti- 
ble to the serene and philosophical sjjirit 
of ZAvingle, threw over all life a more 
than monastic lilooni. The learnino; and 
eloquence by Avhicli the great reformers 
had been eminently distinguished, and to 
which they had been in no small mea- 
sure indebted for their success, were re- 
garded by the new school of Protes- 
tants with suspicion, if not AA"itli aver- 
sion. Some Precisians had scruples about 
teaching the Latin grammar, because the 
names of Bacchus, Mars, and Apollo oc- 
curred in it. The fine arts were all Init 
proscribed. The solemn peal of the or- 
gan was superstitious. The light music 
of Ben Jouson's masques was dissolute. 
Half the fine paintings in England were 
idolatrous, and the other half indecent. 
The extreme Puritan was known at once 
from other men by his gait, his garb, 
his lank hair, the sour solemnity of his 
face, the upturned white of his eyes, the 
nasal twang with which he spoke, and 
above all, by his peculiar dialect. He 



254 



CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 



employed on every occasion the imagery 
and style of Scripture. Hebraisms violent- 
ly intruded into the English language, 
and metaphors borrowed from the bold- 
est lyric poetry of a remote age and 
country, and applied to the common con- 
cerns of English life, were the most strik- 
ing peculiarities of this cant, which moved, 
not without cause, the derision of both 
prelatists and libertines." 



It is no small argument in favor of 
modern enlightenment that all such nar- 
row minded prejudices have yielded in a 
great measure to more enlarged ideas, 
and, with the exception of the Quakers, 
all denominations are building churches 
which in architecture and decoration have 
little to distinguish them from those of 
the Anglican communion, the omission of 
the chancel only excepted. 



GLOSSARY. 



Acanthus. — A plant, called in England " bear's- 
breech," the leaves of which are imitated on the 
capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders. 

Aisles. — The lateral wings of a church on each 
side the nave ; of less altitude than the nave, and 
covered with a lean-to roof. 

AxTAE. — An elevated table in Christian churches, 
dedicated to the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist 
only. 

Alleys. — The passages between the pews ; some- 
times erroneously called aisles. 

Antependium. — A hanging for covering the front 
of an altar ; frequently made of the richest silk or 
velvet, and ornamented with the most costly and 
elaborate embroidery. 

Apse. — A semicircular or polygonal wing of a 
building, vaulted with a semi-dome. 

Arabesque. — A species of ornament used for 
enriching flat surfaces — either painted, inlaid in mo- 
saic, or carved in bas-relief; it consists of a fan- 
ciful mixture of all sorts of figures, of men and 
animals, real and imaginary, often truncated and 
growing out of plants ; also, of all sorts of fruits 
and foliage involved and tAvisted, and ujDon which 
the animals or other objects rest. 

Baptistery. — A small chapel, either attached to 
or separate from the church, containing the font. 

Basilica. — The name applied by the Romans to 
their public halls, either of justice, of exchange, or 
other business. The ground plan of these build- 



ings was, with some changes, generally followed in 
the early churches, which also long retained the 
name ; and it is still applied to some of the cluu-ches 
in Rome by way of honorary distinction. 

Bays. — The spaces between the columns of the 
nave. 

Capital. — The head of a column, consisting of 
a series of mouldings, and frequently elaborately 
sculjitured. 

Centring. — The temporary support placed un- 
der vaults and arches, to sustain them while they 
are in course of building ; usually a frame of wood- 
work. 

Chamfer. — An angle which is slightly pared off 
is said to be chamfered. A chamfer resembles a 
splay, but is much smaller, and is usually taken 
off equally, or nearly so, on the two sides. It ajj- 
plies to wood-work as well as stone. 

Chancel. — The eastern end of a church, appro- 
priated to those who officiate in the services ; and 
formerly separated from the nave and other parts 
in which the congregation assemble by means of 
a screen (cancellus), from which the name is derived. 
It comprises two parts — choir and sanctuary. 

Chapel. — A small building attached to a church 
or cathedral, and separately dedicated; also, a de- 
tached building for Divine Service. 

Chimney. — This term was not originally restric- 
ted to the shaft of the chimney, but included the 
fireplace. There does not appear to be any evi- 



256 



GLOSSARY. 



dence of the use of chimney-shafts in England prior 
to the twelfth century. 

Choir. — That part of the chancel between the 
communion rail and the chancel arch. 

Cleee-stoey. — That portion of the nave wall 
extending above the aisle roofs, and pierced with 
windows, in order to light and ventilate the upper 
portion of the church. 

Cloistee. — A covered ambulatory or walk, usu- 
ally forming three or four sides of a hollow square ; 
they likewise served as passages of communication 
between detached buildings. 

Collar-beam. — A horizontal tie, connecting a 
pair of rafters at any point below the ridge, and 
above their feet. 

Coping. — The covering course of a wall, either 
flat, or sloping on the upper surface to throw off 
water ; sometimes called also capping. 

Corbel. — A term peculiar to Gothic architect- 
ure, denoting a projecting stone or piece of timber, 
which sup23orts a superincumbent weight. Any con- 
struction which is carried by corbels, so as to stand 
beyond the face of a wall, is said to be corbelled out. 

Credence (called also the Prothesis). — The small 
table at the side of the altar, on which the elements 
are placed before consecration. 

Cusp. — A point formed by two parts of a curve 
meeting ; hence, applied to the projecting points 
formed by the meeting of the small arches, or foils, 
in foil arches or tracery. 

Diaper-work. — A mode of decorating a surface, 
which consists in covering it with a continuous repe- 
tition of a small flower, leaf, or similar ornaments, 
either carved or painted. If carved, the flowers are 
entirely sunk into the work below the general sur- 
face ; they are usually square, or diamond-shaped, 
and placed close to each other. 

Dripstone (called also table, weather-moulding, 
water-table, and hood-mould). — A projecting tablet 



over the heads of doorways, windows, archways, 
niches, etc., for the purpose of shedding water. 

Entablature. — The superstructure which lies 
horizontally upon the columns in classic architect- 
ure. It is divided into the architrave, or part im- 
mediately above the column ; frieze, the central 
space ; and cornice, the upper projecting mouldings. 

Epistle side of a Church. — The south side — 
assuming the altar to be the east. 

Fald-stool. — A portable seat made to fold up 
in the manner of a camp-stool. Formerly, when a 
bishop was required to officiate in any but his own 
cathedral church, where his throne was erected, a 
fald-stool was placed for him in the choir ; and he 
frequently carried one with him on his journeys. 
The term is frequently, but erroneously, apjilied to 
the litany-stool, or small low desk at which the lit- 
any is enjoined to be sung or said. 

FiNiAL. — In the old writers this term included 
the whole of what Rickman calls the pinnacle ; but 
it is now usually confined to the bunch of foliage 
which terminates pinnacles, canopies, gable-ends, etc. 
In modern Gothic, finials are frequently made of iron. 

FoNT.-^ — The vessel Avhich contains the consecrated 
water to be used in baptism. Ancient fonts were 
always large enough to allow of the immersion of 
infants — the basin being a foot, or rather more, in 
depth, and from one and a half to two feet in diam- 
eter. There are a few fonts of Norman date made 
of lead; but, with these exceptions, the common 
material for them is stone, lined with lead, and lia\- 
ing a hole in the bottom of the basin for the escape 
of the water. By the constitution of Edmund, Ai-ch- 
bishop of Canterburj^ (A. D. 1236), fonts were re- 
quired to be covered and locked. At that period 
the covers are likely to have been little more than 
flat, movable lids ; but they were afterward highly 
ornamented, and carried up to a very considerable 
height in the form of spires. 

Gargoyle. — A projecting spout, used in Gothic 
architecture, to throw the water from the gutter off" 



GLOSSARY. 



257 



the wall. Sometimes they were perfectly plain, but 
more frequently carved into grotesque figures ; these 
are commonly represented Avitli open mouths, from 
which the water issued. 

HAMMER-HEAjr. — A l)eam very frequently used in 
the trusses of Gothic roofs. Each pair of principals 
has two hammer-beams, which occupy the situation 
of a tie-beam, but do not extend across the Avhole 
width of the roof. The ends of hammer-beams are 
often ornamented wuth heads, shields, or figures of 
angels bearing shields or labels. 

KixG-POST. — The middle post of a roof, standing 
on the tie-beam, and reaching up to the ridge ; also 
called cro\\m-post. 

LixTEL. — A piece of timber or stone placed hori- 
zontally over a doorway, window, or other opening 
in a wall, to support the superincumbent weight. 

LotrvEE-BOAEDiNG. — A Series of sloping boards 
jjlaced in an unglazed aperture so as to admit air, 
but exclude rain. They are commonly to be found 
in belfries. In modern work, large slates are sub- 
stituted for boards. 

Mtjllioi^. — The slender pier Avhich forms the di- 
vision between the lights of windows, screens, etc., 
in Gothic architecture. 

Nave. — The centre or body of the church, ex- 
tending from the western entrance to the chancel, 
and covered with a double-pitch or gable-roof. 

Okiextation. — Applied to turning the chancel 
toward the east ; symbolizing the birth of our Sav- 
iour. Ecclesiologically, the chancel end. 

Piscina. — A shallow stone basin or sink, with 
drain, placed near the altar ; used to receive the 
water in which the priest washes his hands, as well 
as that with which the chalice is rinsed ; it is placed 
Avithin a niche, though the basin frequently projects 
before the face of the wall, supported on a shaft 
rising from the floor. 

Poppy-head. — An elevated ornament, used on 



the tops of the upright ends which terminate the 
seats, stalls, etc., of a church. They are sometimes 
merely cut into \>h\h\ ^ffcur.s-de-lis, but are freciuciillv 
carved with leaves, like finials, and in rich work 
sculptured into animals, figures, etc. 

Purlins. — The horizontal timbers which rest on 
the principals of a roof, and support the common 
rafters. 

Quoins or Coins. — The external angles of a 
building. When the walls are of rough stone-work, 
the quoins are commonly of ashlar — that is, squared 
and hammer-dressed stone. 

Rafters. — Tlie inclined timbers forming the sides 
of a roof, which meet in an angle at the toj), and 
on which the laths or boards are fixed to carry the 
external co\'ering. These are termed cotmnoti raf- 
ters. In trussed roofs they rest upon the 2^urUns, 
which are themselves supported by the principal 
rafters. 

Reredos. — The screen at the back of an altar ; 
sometimes enriched with niches, pinnacles, statues, and 
other carved decorations, or painted in polychrome. 
They not unfrequently extended across the whole 
Avidth of the sanctuary, and Avere sometimes carried 
up nearly to the ceiling. 

Respond. — A half-pillar or pier attached to a 
wall to support an arch. They are generally em- 
ployed at the terminations of ranges of pillars, such 
as those betAveen the body and aisles of churches. 

Ridge. — The upper angle of a roof; it has usu- 
ally, though by no means ahvays, a piece of timber 
running along it, called the ridge-piece, upon which 
the upper ends of the rafters rest. The tiles Avith 
which it is covered are frequently called ridge-tiles. 

Rood and Rood-beam. — The rood Avas a cross, 
or crucifix, formerly erected over the entrance of the 
chancel ; and, AAdien complete, accompanied by the 
figures of St. John and the Blessed Virgin, placed 
one on each side. It Avas supported by a beam, 
called the rood-beam, or by a gallery called the rood- 



258 



GLOSSARY. 



loft, over the screen. This was approached by a 
small stone staircase in the wall ; often to be found 
in ancient churches where the screen and rood-loft 
have been destroyed. 

RooD-TowEE. — A tower built over the intersec- 
tion of a cruciform church. 

Renaissance. — The revival of classic architect- 
ure in the fifteenth century, greatly influenced, how- 
ever, by the Gothic styles which preceded it. 

Sacristy. — A room attached to a chiirch, in which 
the sacred vestments and other valuables of a church 
were preserved, and in which the priest put on his 
robes ; sometimes included within the main walls of 
the building and sometimes an adjunct. ' In Eng- 
land this name does not appear to have been so 
common as vestry, but on the continent it still pre- 
vails. 



Sanctuary. — The eastern part of the chancel, 
containing the altar. This is divided from the choir 
by the Communion rail. 



Sedilia. — The seats on the south of the sanc- 
tuary. 

Stalls. — The seats for the clergy and choristers 
on the north and south of the choir. 

Spandrel. — The triangular space between the 
arch of a door, and the mouldings over it ; the term 
is also apjDlied to similar spaces, included between 
arches and straight-sided figures surrounding them. 

String-courses. — Horizontal bands or lines of 
moulding in a building. 

Transom. — A horizontal mullion or cross-bar in 
a window. 

Transepts. — The north and south wings of a 
church. They are usually carried above the aisles, 
and covered with gable roofs, which intersect with 
the roof of nave, making the church uniform in plan. 

VoussoiRS. — The wedge-shaped stones with which 
an arch is constructed ; the upper one, at the crown 
of the arch, is termed the keystone. 




)8oU Bil^emarial Wintlour, HfCartfartl; )8ajwi, 

Henry E. Sharp & Son, Glass Stainers, Nos. 147 and 149 East 22d Street, New York. 



H. HUDSON HOLLY, 




o, 111 Broadway, New York. 



^chet)u(c of (Shartjc© on ©uilags ©^cccctJin^ |5,000, 

ADOPTED BY THE AMEEICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS. 



Total, 5 per cent. 



For Plans and Elevations, 2)^ per cent. 

For Detail Drawings, ...... 1 " 

For Supervision, . . . . . . . IJ^ " 

Necessary travelling and hotel expenses to be paid by the client. 

For work under $5,000, Decorative Work, Monuments, Furniture, etc., a special rate in excess of 
the above. 

If Sketches only are ordered, the charge will be one per cent. When Sketches are adopted, a charge 
•wiW be made for the alteration of working-plans. 

In altering Old Buildings, a charge of $25 additional will be made for Survey. 

Until an actual estimate is received, the charges are based upon the proposed cost of the works, and 
the payments are received as instalments of the entire fee, which is based upon the actual cost, including 
Painting, Mantles, Grates, Furnaces, Plumbing, etc. 

The Architect's payments become successively due as his work is completed, in order of the above 
classification. 

Drawings, as instruments of service, are the j^roperty of the Architect. 

H. HUDSON HOLLY, 

Author of " Holly's Country Seats," 

Member of the American Institute of Architects. 




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Monuments, Cemetery Vaults, Church Altars, Fonts Tablets, Communion Tables, and 

Marble Counters. Marble Floor Tiling, etc. 



ESTi2«E^^TES j^isrzD nDi?,.A-"wi2sra-s Tjipon^ ^^i=>:pXjiG.A-mo3sr. 






m^,^ 



i 



'?^^*l 



HENRY E. SHARP & SON 



JSos. 147 & 149 East 22d Street, 



MEW W®»K® 



ESTABLISHED 184S. 



MwihU ^imti ^Um %%ml%. 




BOOTH & RIESTER, 

GLASS STAINERS 

BUFFALO, N.Y. 



No. 29 Pearl Street, 
(And over 23 and 25 Terrace,) 



Manufacturers of Church "Windows in lead and iron sash, Stained, 
■ Knamelled, and Embossed Glass of every description. 

Specimens sent to all parts of the country on applicatioti. 




ROBERT PATON, 

JIauufacturer of 

Sunday School, Church, and Lecture Eoom 

mmmwmmm 

OF EVERY DESCRIPTION. 

ALTAR AND PULPIT FURNITURE. 

N. B. — Tiie Back of our new Reversible Settee is reversed with less 
trouble, at the same time adjusting the Seat to a pitch indispensable for 
comfort. 

Catalot/ue sent on application, tvith stamp. 

26 Grove Street, New York. 



PATENT ELASTIC FELT. 

Uie Sest, Cleanest, Cheapest, and most Vurahly Elastic 
UTaterial in tisc. 

HALF THE PRICE OF HAIR. 

The Company can show Cushions which have been in constant use for 
seventeen (17) years, and are still soft and elastic. 

ALSO, 

MATTRESSES, PILLOWS, AND BOLSTERS. 

PATENT ELASTIC FEET CO., 

Send for Circular. ».5 Duane Street, NEW YOJtK. 



JA.UES SINCL.VIR. ,\LEX. MILXE. 

SINCLAIR & MILNE, 



SUCCESSORS TO 



THE MASTERTON, SMITH & SINCLAIR STONE DRESSING CO., 

■pooT OF East 2C)th and 30TH ^treets, New Yoi\K City, 



DEALERS AND WORKERS IN ALL KINDS OF 



Mxtt Mmt, 



FOR HOUSE AND STORE FRONTS, CHURCH TRIMMINGS, ETC. 

ALSO, IMPORTERS OF 

Foreign Granites, Aberdeen and Peterhead Polished, Red, Gray, and Blue Granite 
Columns, Shafts, and all kinds and sizes of Monuments. 

N. B. — Particular attention given to Gothic Work, Carving, Capitals, Finials, Tablets, 
Monuments, Fonts, etc., etc. 



ALEXANDER MILNE, Pres't. JAS. S. YOUNG, Sec'y. JAS. SINCLAIR, Treas'r. 

Curka|np JttarMf Cmnpanij, 

TUCKAHOE, WESTCHESTER CO., NEW YORK. 



Foot of East 29tli Street, New York Gitj. 



Special attention given to Church Work, Carving, etc. 

Rough and Sawed Marble to the Trade at favorable rates. 



MINTON'S 

iMimstlt ami Pa:v!ni^ Tf tei 









FOR 



FLOORS OF CHURCHES AND OTHER BUILDINGS. 



Various Patterns for To^vers, Porches, Vestibules, Aisles, and Chancels 

are al\vays on hand. 



Glazed and other Tiles, of suitable designs, for insertion in Panels of 
Altars, Lecterns, Pulpits, and Wainscoting. 



Mural Tablets, in colors, ^vith names, dates, etc., to order. 



ROOFI]Sra TILES Ilsr colors, etc. 



On fhe ojij>osit& ;pcige are a few patterns of (Plain or (Paving _ Tiles, and ccmoinations 
of these with Inlaid or Encaustic Tiles. Other patterns, including some wholly of rich 
Inlaid Tiles, will te -sent on application. 

It will &5 seen that the patterns may "he m,ade to suit any space, and that the same 
general designs may te carried out in Towers, Porches, Vestibules, etc. 

Ornamental Centre Pieces, with or without Emllems, may "be used at pleasure. 

Bstimates of cost of Floors will te made, and, when required, experienced workmen 
will te sent to any part of the country. 

MILLER & CO AXES, 

2119 Pearl Htreet, New York. 



A 



Patterns of fA\moN's Tiles for -pLooRS of Churches, 

Foil SAI.H in- 
/V\.ILLEF\ 8( POATES, 219 PeAF\L ^TREET, NeW YoKK. 




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